The Trump administration struck a deal with China on Monday to keep TikTok operating in the U.S., ending a multi-year standoff over the popular social media app that began during Trump’s previous presidency, administration officials said.
“President Trump played a role in this, we had a call with him last night, we had specific guidance from him we shared it with our Chinese counterparts,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in announcing a framework agreement has been reached. “Without his leadership and the leverage he provides, we would not have been able to include the deal today.”
Bessent said Trump will speak with Chinese leader Xi Jinping Friday to finalize the deal.
The Trump administration did not name the U.S.-backed buyer, but the group is believed to be headed by Oracle Corp. Executive Chairman Larry Ellison, who last week briefly became the world’s richest person after the company he co-founded struck a $300 billion, five-year deal with OpenAI to build data centers to power artificial intelligence (AI). In January, Trump backed Ellison to buy the U.S. assets of TikTok.
Trump has repeatedly extended deadlines for reaching a deal with China to force the sale of at least part of TikTok’s U.S. operations to American-backed owners. The pressure stems from a bipartisan congressional ban signed by former President Joe Biden that prohibits TikTok from operating in the U.S. because of national security concerns unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, divests its American assets.
TikTok went offline briefly on Jan. 18, the day before the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act took effect. But Trump intervened the following day, promising to sign an executive order protecting U.S. companies from penalties for hosting TikTok once he took office.
The executive order, signed on Trump’s first day back in the presidency Jan. 20, suspended enforcement of the ban for 75 days. Trump extended that deadline again in June and most recently pushed it to Sept. 17, though observers widely expected another extension if no agreement materialized.
Trump initially pushed to ban TikTok during his first presidency but failed to enact the policy, which Biden later embraced and signed into law. Trump reversed his position after crediting the social media platform with helping him win the 2024 election.
The app claims approximately 170 million U.S. users, predominantly young people who supported Trump at higher rates in 2024 than that demographic has backed Republican presidential candidates in recent elections. While Trump had repeatedly claimed a deal was imminent, no agreement materialized until Monday’s announcement.
