According to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, both the United States and China have reached a pivotal stage and are fully prepared to advance toward the completion of a significant agreement concerning the social media platform TikTok. This declaration marks a major step in ongoing negotiations that have captured global attention due to their implications for technology, trade, and national security. Bessent reminded the public that during a series of high-level discussions held in Madrid the previous month, representatives from both nations successfully established what he referred to as a comprehensive ‘framework’ for a deal. This preliminary accord laid the foundation for subsequent developments, which were further solidified when President Donald Trump issued an executive order specifically designed to streamline and legally facilitate the forthcoming transaction.
During a Sunday morning appearance on the television program *Face the Nation* on CBS, Secretary Bessent elaborated on these points, announcing that the two countries had now moved beyond the initial framework and had effectively achieved a finalized agreement regarding TikTok. He emphasized that the preliminary consensus reached in Madrid had now been refined, stating that as of the present moment, every remaining issue had been addressed, every technical and legal ambiguity resolved, and every procedural detail meticulously ironed out. According to Bessent, the next and final stage is for the leaders of both nations to officially endorse and consummate the transaction, an event projected to occur on Thursday during their meeting in Korea. While he declined to disclose specific terms or structural details of the arrangement, Bessent did clarify that his direct responsibility throughout the negotiation process had been to ensure that the Chinese government agreed to formally authorize the transaction. In his view, this objective has been successfully accomplished in the preceding forty-eight hours, marking a diplomatic breakthrough between the two economic giants.
President Trump, for his part, has repeatedly extended the deadline attached to a federal mandate requiring ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, either to divest its U.S. assets or face a complete prohibition of the platform within the United States. Under the stipulations of the executive order that implements this policy, TikTok’s functions within the U.S.—including its core technologies such as the recommendation algorithm, proprietary source code, and systems for content moderation—will be transferred to the oversight of a newly established board of directors. This board will govern the American branch of TikTok, thereby ensuring compliance with U.S. standards regarding data privacy, corporate governance, and digital transparency. Oracle, a major American technology firm led by Larry Ellison, will assume primary responsibility for operational and cybersecurity measures, effectively guaranteeing that the platform’s data infrastructure aligns with U.S. regulatory expectations.
Reports indicate that several prominent investors, including Oracle, Fox Corporation (the parent company of Fox News), venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and investment group Silver Lake Management, will participate in the joint venture that is being created to manage TikTok’s restructured U.S. entity. Fox’s involvement, which had previously been the subject of speculation, now appears to have received confirmation from statements made directly by President Trump. These collaborations underscore how the deal merges elements of politics, capital investment, and technology policy on a global scale.
Bessent’s remarks on the TikTok negotiations came during a press briefing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where parallel discussions between American and Chinese delegations were being held on broader trade and economic matters. Officials revealed that these talks had produced a secondary ‘framework for agreement’ addressing tariffs and a range of bilateral trade issues that have remained sources of tension between Washington and Beijing. The U.S. trade representative, Jamieson Greer, informed reporters that the complex subject of rare earth minerals—materials crucial for the production of semiconductors, advanced electronic devices, and numerous high-tech components—had featured prominently in the discussions, though he refrained from describing the specifics. This topic carries strategic importance, as China has previously hinted at plans to tighten its export controls on these resources, potentially influencing global technology supply chains and manufacturing capacities.
Summarizing the conversation, Greer noted that negotiators had talked about multiple connected themes, including the extension of the existing trade truce, the issue of rare earth exports, and a wide variety of other topics concerning both economic cooperation and competitive regulation. Collectively, these interlinked negotiations over digital policy, trade, and industrial resources suggest that the relationship between the United States and China may be entering a complex but potentially more cooperative phase, one defined by cautious optimism, careful diplomacy, and the recognition that technological interdependence is now a defining feature of modern international relations.
Sourse: https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/26/trump-and-xi-will-consummate-tiktok-deal-on-thursday-treasury-secretary-says/
