US says framework for deal on future of TikTok ownership agreed with China

Washington has reached a “framework” deal with China on TikTok’s US operations, paving the way for American ownership, as the world’s two biggest economies negotiate a trade deal.

The framework was set in talks in Madrid, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday, adding that President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping would “complete” the deal on Friday.

Trump said on Truth Social that the talks had “gone very well”. China confirmed a framework agreement but said no deal would be made at the expense of their firms’ interests.

A Wednesday deadline looms for TikTok’s Chinese owner to find a buyer for US operations or face a ban in the country over national security concerns.

The deadline for a sale has since been extended three times already and the latest delay is due to end on 17 September.

The BBC’s US partner CBS reported late on Monday that Oracle was among a group of firms that would enable TikTok operations to continue in the US if a deal between Washington and Beijing is finalised.

The BBC has contacted Oracle, TikTok, the White House and the Chinese embassy in Washington DC for comment.

The ownership of TikTok has been a major sticking point in US-China trade talks. It was seen by observers as key to Beijing’s efforts to negotiate lower tariffs and fewer trade barriers with the US, one of China’s biggest markets.

Bessent announced the “framework” deal after the second day of negotiations to end a trade war which, at its peak, saw tariffs on some goods hit145%.

The agreed upon commercial terms would protect US national security interests, he added.

US trade representative Jamieson Greer, part of the delegation in Madrid, said the deal struck was “subject to the leaders’ approval”, but added his team was “not… in the business of having repetitive [ban] extensions”.

China’s top trade negotiator, Li Chenggang, said his country would not reach a deal with the US at the expense of its own principles and its leadership would review any deal before it was agreed.

In January, the US Supreme Court upheld a law passed in April 2024, banning TikTok unless its parent company ByteDance sold its US division.

TikTok went dark for a day that month after the law came into effect, before Trump intervened and issued a 75-day postponement.

The US Justice Department has said TikTok’s access to data on American users poses “a national-security threat of immense depth and scale”.

But ByteDance has repeatedly insisted that its US operations are fully independent and no data has been shared with the Chinese government. The company also argued that the ban would violate free speech protections for its 170 million US users.

Various figures have previously been touted as potential buyers of the platform, including Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, YouTube creator MrBeast and billionaire investor Frank McCourt.

Details of the deal remain sparse and some experts are sceptical over issues including who will control TikTok’s powerful recommendation algorithm.

It is also unclear if the data of TikTok’s American users would be fully stored and encrypted domestically, and whether there would be independent audits to detect backdoor access by Beijing, said Sarah Kreps, director of the Tech Policy Institute at Cornell University.

“Until these details are clarified, the risk is that the deal resolves ownership on paper but leaves core vulnerabilities untouched,” she added.

Jim Secreto, a former national security official in the Biden administration, said Beijing has control over whether the algorithm will be transferred to a new owner, which is probably why the TikTok deal was folded into broader trade and tariff negotiations.

If national security concerns were addressed, the deal “would be a major breakthrough,” he said.

He added that the stakes were high as ByteDance was now one of the largest AI firms in China – but is still operating as it did when Congress decided action was necessary.

“The data TikTok collects from Americans today could help train the models that power China’s military and intelligence capabilities tomorrow,” Mr Secreto said.