TikTok Ban Averted as U.S. and China Reach ‘Framework’ Deal

The Trump administration said Monday it had reached a “framework” agreement with China on the transfer of the popular social media app TikTok to its American owner, just days before it was scheduled to be blocked from approximately 135 million users in the United States.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters after two days of trade talks with China in Madrid that preliminary deal has been agreedand that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will talk on Friday to “close” the deal.

“This is a transition to US-controlled ownership,” Bessent said, adding that the agreement is “between two private parties” and that “commercial terms have already been agreed upon.”

Read more: The grim reality of the TikTok ban

Trump indicated the deal had been reached in a social media post shortly before Bessan's announcement.

“The big trade meeting in Europe between the United States of America and China went VERY WELL!” Trump published in Truth Social. “A deal was also reached for a certain company that young people in our country really wanted to save.”

TikTok's legal presence in the United States has been in question since a 2024 law passed with bipartisan support and signed by former President Joe Biden banned the app unless Chinese owner ByteDance sold it to a US buyer. Lawmakers cited national security and data privacy concerns. The law was upheld by the Supreme Court in January.

The law led to the closure of TikTok dark in the United States on the evening of January 18 and disappears from US app stores, only for the video app to reappear online hours after Trump. announced he extended the deadline for the sale of ByteDance. Since then, Trump has extended the deadline several more times, with the latest deadline being Sept. 17.

Trump has argued that its time-bound reciprocal tariff policy has become an important negotiating tool in working toward a deal with China.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamison Greer said Monday that the deadline could be extended to finalize the framework agreement.

Trump's recent role in supporting TikTok marks a sharp turn from his first term in office, when Trump himself decided to ban the app.

In August The White House is open own TikTok account, a signal that Trump is working to secure a deal and is confident in the app's longevity.

Since Trump extended the deadline, there has been speculation about who might buy the app from ByteDance. Names of potential buyers include Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon, Shark TankKevin O'Leary, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and influencer Mister Beast.