Trump hints TikTok deal has finally been reached with China
Donald Trump has dropped a firm hint that the US and China have reached a deal about the future of TikTok.
Posting on Truth Social a few minutes ago, Trump declares that the meeting taking place between officials from the US and China about trade in Madrid had gone “VERY WELL”
Trump wrote:
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
TikTok’s owner, Beijing-headquartered ByteDance, has faced a Wednesday deadline to find a buyer for the short video site’s US operations, or be banned in the country.
Trump has already extended that deadline several times, giving ByteDance more time to agree a deal with an American-backed owner that satisfies both the US and China.
Back in July, Trump claimed that the US “pretty much” had a deal on the sale of TikTok.
Key events
Closing post
Time to wrap up….
Washington and Beijing appear to have struck a deal on the future of the US operations of Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok.
Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative, said on Monday that Washington and Beijing have struck a framework agreement on transferring TikTok to US-controlled ownership.
Speaking after emerging from negotiations with Chinese officials, Scott Bessent said the deal was coming but declined to reveal the commercial terms.
“We have a framework for a TikTok deal,” the treasury secretary told reporters after coming out of high-level talks in Madrid.
“We’re not going to talk about the commercial terms of the deal. It’s between two private parties, but the commercial terms have been agreed upon.”
The framework agreement is a breakthrough in the long-running dispute over TikTok’s ownership, which has raised national security concerns in Washington over the app’s Chinese parent company ByteDance. In April 2024, Joe Biden signed legislation that gave ByteDance nine months to sell the platform to a US-approved buyer or face a total ban – a deadline that Donald Trump has repeatedly extended.
Trump hinted that a deal had been done, posting on his Truth Social site that a deal had been reached ‘on a “certain” company that young people in our Country very much wanted to save.’
Trump also called for US companies to stop reporting quarterly results, arguing that shifting to publishing figures twice a year will save them cash and let executives focus on their businesses.
Tensions between the US and China had appeared to escalate this morning, when a Beijing regulator claimed Nvidia had breached antitrust rules.
Tech company Alphabet’s market capitalisation has surged above $3tn for the first time today, joining Nvidia, Microsoft and Apple in the $3tn club.
Shares in Tesla have jumped 6%, after a filing showed that chief executive Elon Musk bought about $1bn of the electric-vehicle maker’s shares last week.
Alphabet hits $3tn market capitalisation
Elsewhere in the technology world, Google’s parent company’s value has hit a new high.
Alphabet’s market capitalisation has hit the $3tn level for the first time, with its shares up almost 4% in early Wall Street trading.
The rise comes amid a wider rally in artificial intelligence-linked companies.
Alphabet also learned earlier this month that it won’t be forced to sell its Chrome browser.
Lisa O’Carroll
US and China trade talks will resume in a month, treasury secretary Scott Bessent said after talks between both sides broke up in Madrid .
The talks covered issues relating to critical raw materials, money laundering and illicit fentanyl trade.
“We will be holding trade negotiations in about a month again at a different location,” Bessent told reporters.
Photos: US-China talks end in Madrid, with TikTok breakthrough
Here are some photos from Madrid, as the US-China trade (and TikTok) talks ended:
On the ongoing trade talks with China, Scott Bessent told reporters in Madrid:
“We had very good discussions. We preferred to keep the discussions on TikTok, we will be holding trade negotiations in about a month again at a different location.”
Greer: We have a deal (subject to leaders’ approval).
Lisa O’Carroll
Trade representative Jamieson Greer is also confident that a deal to keep TikTok operational in the US has been reached.
Speaking in Madrid after the talks with China’s officials, Greer says “We believe we have an agreement. It’s just subject to the leaders’ approval”.
[Reminder: Donald Trump has said he will speak with China’s president Xi on Friday]
Greer added:
“We’re not going to be in the business of having repetitive extensions. We have a deal.
You know, if there’s some extension needed just to get it signed, etc. that’s one thing, but, there’s just no ongoing extensions.”
[there may need to be a short extension as the deadline to finalise a deal is Wednesday, two days before Trump and Xi are due to speak]
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent added that trade talks between US and China had not concluded, after the meeting in Madrid wrapped up this lunchtime in Europe.
Instead, they will go to a fifth round in about a month’s time.
The Madrid meeting follows earlier talks in Geneva, London and Stockholm in recent months.
Bessent: Agreement in principle on TikTok deal
Lisa O’Carroll
The US has said it has reached an agreement in principle on the sale of Chinese social media platform TikTok.
Following the talks in Madrid which Donald Trump cited a few minutes ago, US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said:
“We’re not going to talk about the commercial terms of the deal. It’s between two private parties, but the commercial terms have been agreed upon.”
He said the details would be ironed out when Trump speaks to China’s Xi on Friday, adding:
“We had very good discussions. We preferred to keep the discussions on TikTok, we will be holding trade negotiations in about a month again at a different location.”
Trump hints TikTok deal has finally been reached with China
Donald Trump has dropped a firm hint that the US and China have reached a deal about the future of TikTok.
Posting on Truth Social a few minutes ago, Trump declares that the meeting taking place between officials from the US and China about trade in Madrid had gone “VERY WELL”
Trump wrote:
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
TikTok’s owner, Beijing-headquartered ByteDance, has faced a Wednesday deadline to find a buyer for the short video site’s US operations, or be banned in the country.
Trump has already extended that deadline several times, giving ByteDance more time to agree a deal with an American-backed owner that satisfies both the US and China.
Back in July, Trump claimed that the US “pretty much” had a deal on the sale of TikTok.
Risk assets have shown “remarkable resilience” in the last few months, defying the trade conflict and policy uncertainties, the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) has pointed out today.
In its latest quarterly review, BIS (known as the central bankers’ central bank) says markets have shrugged off trade concerns, and maintained “a risk-on tone”.
BIS says:
Despite short-lived bouts of volatility triggered by incoming data and political developments, market sentiment remained upbeat, defying mounting challenges, including unease over the longer-run fiscal outlook in several key jurisdictions.
BIS also cautions, though, that markets could be too relaxed.
Hyun Song Shin, head of the BIS’s monetary and economic department, told reporters that markets are “vulnerable to repricing from bad news,” Bloomberg reports.
He warned
“This very sanguine assessment seems to be disregarding some of the very real challenges in the real economy.”
Trump: Quarterly reporting should end
Donald Trump has proposed that US companies should be relieved from the burden of reporting financial results each quarter.
Posting on Truth Social, Trump says:
Subject to SEC Approval, Companies and Corporations should no longer be forced to “Report” on a quarterly basis (Quarterly Reporting!), but rather to Report on a “Six (6) Month Basis.” This will save money, and allow managers to focus on properly running their companies.
Did you ever hear the statement that, “China has a 50 to 100 year view on management of a company, whereas we run our companies on a quarterly basis??? Not good!!!
Quarterly reporting does also give investors an up-to-date view of a company’s performance (and gives live-bloggers more to write about, which I’d say is “good!!!”).
#agrees #commercial #terms #TikTok #sale #Trump #China #talks #happened #Business
