The United States and China have reached a breakthrough framework agreement to transfer TikTok into U.S.-controlled ownership, marking a major step forward in the yearslong dispute over the popular short-video app.
Jamieson Greer, a U.S. trade representative, confirmed on Monday that Washington and Beijing had struck the deal following negotiations. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, emerging from high-level talks in Madrid, described the development as a framework agreement but declined to disclose commercial terms, noting that those details were strictly between the private parties involved.
The arrangement comes after years of national security concerns in Washington over TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance. In April 2024, President Joe Biden signed legislation giving ByteDance nine months to sell TikTok to an approved U.S. buyer or face a nationwide ban, a deadline former President Donald Trump has since extended multiple times. The saga traces back to 2020, when Trump first ordered a divestiture, sparking unsuccessful acquisition efforts by Microsoft, Walmart, and Oracle.
Oracle has since remained TikTok’s U.S. cloud provider, a role it took on in 2022 to address security risks. Now, with a framework agreement in place, final terms are expected to be settled during a meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week.
Greer emphasized that the current deal ends the cycle of repeated deadline extensions: “We have a deal.”
