U.S., China Say They Have Reached Framework Deal to Keep TikTok Operating in U.S.

U.S. and Chinese officials said they have reached a framework agreement aimed at keeping TikTok operating in the United States and moving the short-video platform toward American ownership, though they gave few details about specific terms or buyers.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at a press briefing after trade talks in Madrid that Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping were expected to speak to possibly finalize the deal, and that "the commercial terms have been agreed upon." Bessent said the objective of the arrangement would be to switch TikTok to American ownership but declined to disclose the parties involved, describing the matter as between private companies.

Chinese international trade representative Li Chenggang told state media that the two sides had reached a "basic framework consensus" to resolve TikTok-related issues cooperatively, reduce investment barriers and promote economic and trade cooperation. Wang Jingtao, deputy director of China’s Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, told reporters in Madrid that there was consensus on authorization for use of intellectual property rights, including TikTok’s algorithm, and on entrusting a partner with handling U.S. user data and content security.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the U.S. team was focused on ensuring the deal was fair to China while "completely" respecting U.S. national security concerns. Observers and earlier press reports have floated Oracle Corp. as a potential buyer or partner; Oracle did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Little is publicly known about how ownership would be transferred or what legal and regulatory steps would be required. Government officials said commercial terms had been agreed by private parties, but they did not disclose whether the U.S. government or any U.S. company would take a controlling stake. Officials also did not release details on how oversight of U.S. user data or algorithms would be implemented.

TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, continues to operate in the United States and is used by about 170 million Americans, officials said. Technology companies including Apple, Google and Oracle were persuaded to continue offering and supporting the app after assurances from the U.S. Justice Department that the companies would not face fines under a law that had been cited in earlier efforts to remove the app from their app stores.

The framework announced in Madrid comes as the White House and Congress have previously used national security grounds to press for a sale of ByteDance’s controlling stake. Concerns from U.S. officials have centered on Chinese laws that could require companies to provide data to the government and on the proprietary algorithm that determines the content users see.

President Trump has repeatedly extended a deadline for a U.S. ban on TikTok despite questions about the legal basis for the extensions. The next deadline cited by officials is Sept. 17; Trump has signaled he would extend that date if needed to allow negotiations to proceed. So far, the administration’s extensions have not prompted a public legal challenge.

Public attitudes toward a TikTok ban have shifted since early 2023. A Pew Research Center survey cited by officials found about one-third of Americans supported banning the app, down from roughly 50% in March 2023. Among those who favored a ban, about 8 in 10 cited concerns about data security.

The agreement marks a potential turning point in a high-profile technology dispute between the world’s two largest economies, but officials involved emphasized that a framework is not a final agreement. Additional negotiations, legal reviews and commercial arrangements will be needed before any change in ownership or oversight takes effect. News organizations and regulators are expected to monitor follow-up discussions and any formal accords reached between the companies and governments.