Bessent Announces ‘Framework’ of TikTok Deal Ahead of Trump-Xi Call

Secretary Bessent says that delegations from the United States and China have come to a “framework” of an agreement to settle the legality of TikTok’s operation within America’s borders. For months, the Trump administration has refused to enforce a federal law on the books meant to force a sale of the app earlier this year. Upon taking office in January, President Trump signed an executive order proclaiming that his administration would simply ignore a law mandating that the Chinese parent company of TikTok, ByteDance, sell the app or face a ban in the United States. The president has since signed several similar orders that many legal observers, such as a Harvard Law professor, Jack Goldsmith, have described as illegal. Mr. Trump has said in the past that he hopes the federal government can take a 50 percent stake in the social media company if it is sold by ByteDance. Oracle’s founder, Larry Ellison, who is close with Mr. Trump, has tried to purchase the app in the past and may try to do so again once a deal between the United States and China is finalized. Mr. Bessent announced in Spain on Monday that a “framework” had been agreed upon relative to TikTok. The Treasury secretary and the U.S. trade representative, Jamieson Greer, are meeting with a Chinese delegation at Madrid to discuss TikTok and trade issues, among other things. “We have a framework for a TikTok deal,” Mr. Bessent told reporters on Monday. “The two leaders — President Trump and party chair Xi — will speak on Friday to complete the deal.”The Treasury secretary declined to disclose specifics, and said only that there were two parties prepared to make a deal once the two presidents speak on Friday. “We’re not going to talk about the commercial teams of the deal. It’s between two private parties, but the commercial terms have been agreed upon,” Mr. Bessent told reporters. “We were very focused on TikTok and making sure that it was a deal that is fair for the Chinese and completely respects U.S. national security concerns, and that’s the deal we reached.”The most recent executive order directing his administration to not enforce the TikTok ban was signed by Mr. Trump on June 19. That order stated that the law would not be enforced for 90 days, meaning that the June order is set to end on Wednesday. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether the president plans to sign another order extending his pause of enforcing the ban. The most recent polling shows that Americans are nearly evenly divided on the question of whether TikTok should be banned, despite an overwhelming bipartisan vote in Congress last year in favor of forcing the sale of the app by ByteDance. Polling conducted by the Pew Research Center earlier this year shows about one-third of Americans in favor of a ban, one-third in favor of keeping the app as is, and one-third unsure about their position. In 2023, Pew found that 50 percent supported banning the app, while 22 percent said that they would oppose it. In a Truth Social post on Monday morning, Mr. Trump hinted that an announcement of some kind of deal would be forthcoming. He pledged to save the app from a ban during his campaign last year. “The big Trade Meeting in Europe between The United States of America, and China, has gone VERY WELL!” the president wrote. “A deal was also reached on a ‘certain’ company that young people in our Country very much wanted to save. They will be very happy!”

Bessent Announces ‘Framework’ of TikTok Deal Ahead of Trump-Xi Call

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