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Topics: Politics, Donald Trump, US News, China
Ellie Kemp
Topics: Politics, Donald Trump, US News, China
Donald Trump has finally struck a deal with China over TikTok's future, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
A new US ownership structure for the wildly popular short-form video sharing app has been agreed upon, Bessent said.
It comes as Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping late last week as part of a short tour of Asia, which saw him visit countries like South Korea, Malaysia and Japan.
Bessent told Fox Business Network programme Mornings with Maria on Thursday: "In Kuala Lumpur, we finalised the TikTok agreement in terms of getting Chinese approval, and I would expect that would go forward in the coming weeks and months, and we’ll finally see a resolution to that."
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Bessent shared no further details on the agreement.
However, the deal is reportedly worth around $14 billion, as per the Guardian.
It's been reported that US and international investors will hold about 65 percent of the US TikTok subsidiary, while TikTok owners ByteDance and other Chinese investors will retain less than a 20 percent stake.
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Trump has signed an executive order approving the deal, giving it 120 days to complete, reports Al Jazeera.
Major US investors reportedly include former news mogul Rupert Murdoch and Oracle's Larry Ellison.
The new company’s board will have seven members, with six appointed by US investors.
It's believed Trump's 19-year-old son, Barron Trump, is in the running to possibly become a board member, according to former Trump social media producer Jack Advent.
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The algorithm - TikTok’s core technology - will be overseen and retrained under the direction of US partners.
It will be managed by US security partners, and operational control will rest with the new joint venture rather than ByteDance.
China has approved the agreement in principle, with its Commerce Ministry saying it would 'work with the US to properly handle TikTok-related issues'.
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Trump’s executive order declares that the deal meets US national security requirements under a 2024 law.
Enforcement of the law - which saw the app banned for 24 hours in the US back in January - has been delayed until January 20, 2026 to allow time for the transition. But still, the exact details of ownership, governance and just how deeply ByteDance remains involved are uncertain.
So for now, it sounds as though TikTok is here to stay in the US, although it's also unclear how its new US board will potentially change the app's operation.
There are still some hurdles to jump through too, so only time will tell of the app's fate.