U.S. and China Agree on TikTok Ownership Framework Amid Trade Talks

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced following trade negotiations in Spain over the weekend that China and the United States had struck a framework agreement for the ownership of the well-known social video platform TikTok.

"U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will speak Friday to possibly finalise the deal," Bessent said during a press conference following the conclusion of the most recent round of trade discussions between the world's two largest economies in Madrid.  He claimed that the goal was to transfer ownership from China's ByteDance to the United States. 

“We are not going to talk about the commercial terms of the deal,” Bessent said. “It’s between two private parties. But the commercial terms have been agreed upon.”

According to AP, Li Chenggang, China’s international trade representative, told reporters the sides have reached “basic framework consensus” to resolve TikTok-related issues in a cooperative way, reduce investment barriers and promote related economic and trade cooperation.

Since Trump started a tariff battle on Chinese imports in April, the U.S. and Chinese officials have met four times in a row in Madrid.  With both countries preparing for a potential summit between Trump and Xi later this year or early next year to finalise a trade agreement, Bessent stated that a fifth round of talks is anticipated to take place "in the coming weeks."

Analysts warn that potential trade hiccups could cause the visit to be delayed, although nothing has been confirmed.

China's foreign ministry did not confirm if Beijing had sent an invitation to Trump for a state visit.

According to analysts, there may be a chance during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation countries' conference in South Korea at the end of October.

AP reported that, in addition to saying that more work needs to be done at lower levels for a Trump-Xi meeting to occur and that there are other chances for them to meet next year, Cutler described the idea for another round of trade discussions as "encouraging but seems to be cutting things close."

For now, “there is little time to hammer out a meaningful trade agreement,” she said. “What we are more likely to see is a series of ad-hoc deliverables, possibly a Chinese commitment to buy more U.S. soybeans and other products, a U.S. agreement to hold back on announcing certain further U.S. high-tech export controls, and another 90-day rollover of the tariff pause.”