The TikTok saga may finally be reaching its conclusion. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Sunday that the United States and China have hammered out a final deal for TikTok's future, with President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping expected to formalize the agreement this Thursday in South Korea. After months of extended deadlines and negotiations, the deal would restructure TikTok's U.S. operations under American oversight while avoiding an outright ban.
The long-running TikTok standoff between Washington and Beijing appears headed for resolution this week. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's Sunday morning announcement on CBS marks the culmination of negotiations that have kept the popular app in regulatory limbo for over a year.
"We reached one in Madrid, and I believe that as of today, all the details are ironed out," Bessent told CBS' Face the Nation from Kuala Lumpur. The Treasury chief declined to reveal specifics but confirmed his mandate was clear: "get the Chinese to agree to approve the transaction, and I believe we successfully accomplished that over the past two days."
The deal represents a dramatic shift from the hard-line approach that threatened to ban TikTok entirely. Instead of forcing ByteDance into a complete sale, the agreement establishes a complex ownership structure that keeps the Chinese parent company involved while placing U.S. operations under American control.
Under Trump's executive order signed last month, TikTok's crucial U.S. assets - its recommendation algorithm, source code, and content moderation systems - will be governed by a new board of directors. Oracle, led by Trump ally Larry Ellison, takes on the critical role of managing security operations, essentially becoming the app's digital watchdog.
The investor lineup reads like a who's who of Trump-connected entities. Fox Corp, owner of Fox News, joins Andreessen Horowitz and Silver Lake Management in the new joint venture. Trump himself seemed to confirm Fox's participation during recent statements, adding a media dimension to what started as a pure tech deal.
The timing isn't coincidental. Bessent made his announcement while attending broader trade talks in Malaysia, where U.S. and Chinese negotiators were simultaneously hammering out agreements on tariffs and other economic issues. Trade negotiator Jamieson Greer told reporters that rare earth minerals - critical for semiconductor manufacturing - were part of the discussions, though he wouldn't specify details.
