The United States and China have agreed on an outline of a deal to resolve concerns about the Chinese ownership of TikTok, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday.
Mr. Bessent said that the two sides had a “framework for a TikTok deal” after another round of talks in Madrid between the United States and China. The terms of the agreement were not immediately clear.
President Trump will speak on Friday with China’s President Xi Jinping to “complete” the deal, Mr. Bessent said at a news conference.
Mr. Trump also celebrated the agreement Monday morning on social media.
“A deal was also reached on a ‘certain’ company that young people in our country very much wanted to save,” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social. “They will be very happy!”
Their comments come days before Wednesday’s deadline for the app to be sold by its Chinese owner, ByteDance, or face a ban in the United States. Mr. Trump has extended the deadline multiple times.
If it comes to fruition, a deal between Washington and Beijing would resolve years of wrangling over the future of the wildly popular video app. TikTok has faced accusations for years that it poses a national security risk because Beijing could use the app to seek sensitive data on Americans, or to spread propaganda to advance its policy goals.
A federal law passed last year and upheld by the Supreme Court required ByteDance to find new owners or otherwise face a ban in the United States. Mr. Trump has declined to enforce the law while his administration tries to broker the app’s sale, a move that tests the boundaries of executive power.
In April, officials in Washington were close to a plan to bring on a group of new U.S. investors, which could have included private equity giants and venture capital firms. But the Chinese government seemed to balk after Mr. Trump announced a spate of tariffs on the country.
Mr. Bessent declined to describe the terms of the deal on Monday.
“It’s between two private parties,” he said. “But the commercial terms have been agreed upon.”
TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Sapna Maheshwari contributed reporting.
David McCabe is a Times reporter who covers the complex legal and policy issues created by the digital economy and new technologies.
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