The United States and China have reached a framework agreement aimed at clearing the way for US ownership of TikTok’s American operations, US officials said Monday, a tentative deal that could avoid a statutory ban on the popular video app if finalized by President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the framework was negotiated during trade talks in Madrid and is intended “to pave the way for US ownership.” He said the deal was designed to be fair to China while “completely respecting US national security concerns,” and that President Trump and Xi would “complete” the agreement on Friday. China has not yet commented on the matter.
If no sale is secured, a law upheld by the US Supreme Court in January would bar TikTok from operating in the United States unless Beijing’s ByteDance divests its US business. The Justice Department has warned that TikTok’s access to American users’ data poses “a national-security threat of immense depth and scale.” ByteDance has repeatedly denied sharing data with the Chinese government and argued a ban would violate free-speech protections for the app’s roughly 170 million American users.
TikTok briefly went dark over the US’s data-sharing concerns between China and ByteDance
The app briefly went dark in the United States on Jan. 18 after the law took effect, before President Trump, who initially delayed the ban on his first day back in office by signing an executive order, granted a 75-day postponement that kept TikTok live. The deadline for a sale has been extended several times since then; the latest delay was due to expire Sept. 17.
Bessent, speaking on the second day of broader US-China trade negotiations in Spain, said the talks were “very focused on TikTok” and that the arrangement struck was intended to balance US security priorities with fair treatment for Chinese interests. “Without President Trump’s leadership and the leverage he provides, we would not have been able to include the deal today,” Bessent said.
Delegations of #China and #US in second day of talks on economic and trade in #Madrid, #Spain. pic.twitter.com/nBMv5Ubzor
— Chinese Embassy in US (@ChineseEmbinUS) September 15, 2025
President Trump applauded the progress on Truth Social, saying the Madrid talks “have gone VERY WELL,” and hinted the outcome would please younger users of the app. He has repeatedly extended an informal sale deadline, a choice that critics say has stalled Congress after lawmakers passed a bipartisan bill requiring divestiture. The law took effect after President Joe Biden signed it last year.
The new TikTok owner is yet to be decided
Various names have been floated as potential buyers of TikTok’s US operations, including billionaire investors and tech figures such as Elon Musk, YouTuber MrBeast, Frank McCourt, and even the world’s richest man, Larry Ellison. The talks in Madrid take place amid a wider effort to reduce trade friction between the world’s two largest economies, and US officials have framed the TikTok negotiations as part of that broader agenda.
For now, the framework is seen as an initial step. Final approval would require a detailed ownership agreement, data access, and governance structures acceptable to both Washington and Beijing.
Any sale will also be politically sensitive in the United States, where lawmakers and security officials have pressed for strict firewalls to prevent foreign access to Americans’ data. The White House said Mr. Trump would speak with Mr. Xi later this week to try to seal the deal.
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