President Donald J. Trump reportedly announced Monday that negotiators had reached a deal to save TikTok, the Chinese-owned video app facing a looming U.S. ban. While offering few details, Mr. Trump cast the development as a win for young Americans and a sign of progress in broader trade talks with Beijing.
In a statement posted to Truth Social, the president declared: “The big Trade Meeting in Europe between The United States of America, and China, has gone VERY WELL! It will be concluding shortly. 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! I will be speaking to President Xi on Friday. The relationship remains a very strong one!!! President DJT.”
Though Mr. Trump did not mention TikTok by name, the reference was unmistakable.
The platform faces a Sept. 17 deadline to divest its U.S. operations or face a nationwide ban. By hinting at a resolution, the president sought to calm the millions of young Americans who rely on the app daily, while underscoring that his administration’s hard line on China has forced long-delayed concessions.
The announcement coincided with high-stakes trade talks in Madrid, where U.S. and Chinese officials have been negotiating over tariffs, data security, and market access.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer had already suggested over the weekend that the two sides were “very close” to a breakthrough.
TikTok has been the subject of U.S. scrutiny for years. During Mr. Trump’s first term, the White House attempted to ban the app outright, citing national security concerns over its Chinese ownership. That effort was slowed in court, but bipartisan unease only grew.
In his second term, Mr. Trump signed a law requiring TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to divest its American operations or face prohibition. The law explicitly cited the “vast amounts of user data collected by the app and the risk of that information being accessed by a geopolitical rival.”
ByteDance has long denied sharing data with Beijing and has fought the divestiture mandate in court. But the deadline is now just days away.
Reports suggest any final arrangement will involve ByteDance spinning off TikTok’s U.S. arm into a new corporate structure acceptable to regulators. China, for its part, has pressed Washington for concessions on tariffs and trade restrictions in exchange for cooperation.
For now, the president’s brief statement leaves major questions unanswered: Who will acquire TikTok’s U.S. operations? What terms were agreed to in the trade negotiations? And will the Sept. 17 deadline hold, or be extended to allow time to finalize the arrangement?
Still, the announcement underscores the administration’s determination to confront national security risks while keeping an enormously popular platform available to Americans. “Young people in our Country very much wanted to save” TikTok, Mr. Trump wrote, insisting that “they will be very happy.”
The coming days will test whether the president’s deal delivers on both fronts: preserving access to a platform beloved by millions while defending U.S. sovereignty against Chinese influence.
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