Washington, (thestates.news) | US President Donald Trump has said he and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping have approved a deal on the future of TikTok’s US operations during a phone call on Friday.
Trump wrote on Truth Social the call was “productive” and he “appreciated” Xi’s approval of deal, which would reportedly see TikTok’s US business sold to a group of US investors, as per a report in BBC.
But China’s official state news agency Xinhua left the outcome of their discussion less clear, with Xi quoted as saying that Beijing “welcomes negotiations over TikTok”. But China’s official state news agency Xinjua left the outcome of their discussion less clear, with Xi quoted as saying that Beijing “welcomes negotiations over TikTok”.
TikTok, which is run by Chinese firm Bytedance, was previously told it had to sell its US operations or risk being shut down. Trump, however, delayed implementing the ban four times since it was first announced in January, and earlier this week extended the deadline again to December.
In his post, Trump wrote the two had “made progress” on trade issues and would meet at the Asia-PacificEconomic Cooperation (Apec) summit.
It is scheduled to begin at the end of October in South Korea, and said he would travel to China.
A sticking point in negotiations appears to be who will own the powerful algorithm that pushes content to TikTok’s 170 million American users.
Replying to a question about whether an American buyer would need to build a new algorithm, or if they could continue to use the current algorithm during a joint press conference alongside British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in the UK on Thursday, Trump had said, “The people that are investing it are among the greatest investors in the world.”
“And they’ll do a great job – and we’re doing it in conjunction with China.”
Xinhua reported that China’s position on TikTok is “very clear” and that it welcomed firms to “conduct commercial negotiations based on market rules and reach solutions that comply with Chinese laws and regulations and a balance of interests”.
“We hope that the US will provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies to invest in the United States,” it added.
However, a statement by ByteDance on Friday cast further doubt on the status of a deal.
“ByteDance will work in accordance with applicable laws to ensure TikTok remains available to American users through TikTok US,” a ByteDance spokesperson said.The spokesperson thanked both presidents for “their efforts to preserve TikTok in the United States”. Chinese and US officials have held four rounds of talks in recent months, and so far held off on implementing extremely high tariffs and strict export controls. Other thorny issues – including tech export restrictions and Chinese purchases of US agricultural products -so far remain unresolved.(S-UNI)
