The year-long TikTok saga appears headed for resolution this Thursday as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirms President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will "consummate" their deal during meetings in Korea. The announcement caps months of negotiations that could reshape how Chinese-owned apps operate in America.
The United States and China are moving toward a historic resolution of the TikTok standoff, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announcing Sunday that all details have been "ironed out" for a final agreement between Presidents Trump and Xi Jinping.
Speaking from Kuala Lumpur during broader US-China trade talks, Bessent told CBS' Face the Nation that the two leaders will "consummate that transaction on Thursday in Korea." The announcement marks a potential end to the regulatory uncertainty that has hung over TikTok since the Trump administration first targeted the app over national security concerns.
The deal builds on a framework agreement reached in Madrid last month, which Trump subsequently backed with an executive order in September. Under those terms, TikTok's US operations - including its powerful recommendation algorithm, source code, and content moderation systems - will transfer to a new American-controlled board of directors.
Oracle, led by Trump ally Larry Ellison, will take responsibility for the platform's security operations, while a consortium of major investors provides the financial backing. Fox Corp, Andreessen Horowitz, and Silver Lake Management have all been reported as participants in the joint venture, with Fox's involvement seemingly confirmed by Trump himself.
The timing couldn't be more critical for ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company. Trump has repeatedly extended deadlines for a law requiring the company to sell TikTok or face a complete US ban. Each extension has created market uncertainty while keeping TikTok's 170 million American users in limbo about their favorite app's future.
Bessent's announcement comes amid broader diplomatic progress between the world's two largest economies. Speaking alongside Chinese trade negotiators in Malaysia, US trade representative Jamieson Greer confirmed that both countries had reached , including discussions about rare earth minerals critical to semiconductor manufacturing.
