“We have a framework for a TikTok deal,” Bessent said at a press conference in Madrid. “The two leaders, President Trump and Party Chair Xi [Jinping], will speak on Friday to complete the deal. But we do have a framework for a deal with TikTok.”
Bessent, who was in Spain for trade talks with Chinese officials, declined to discuss the “commercial terms” of the agreement between “two private parties” but emphasized that they “have been agreed upon.”
“We had very good discussions,” he added. “We preferred to keep the discussions on TikTok. We will be holding trade negotiations in about a month again at a different location.”
The announcement comes as the administration’s latest TikTok extension is set to expire Wednesday.
Trump has repeatedly delayed enforcement of a law, passed last year, requiring TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance to divest from the app or face a ban on U.S. networks and app stores.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer suggested the president could further extend the timeline if necessary to sign the agreement.
“We believe we have an agreement,” he said Monday. “It’s just subject to the leaders’ approval. So, if you need to extend it by some period of time just to get it signed, et cetera, that’s one thing. But we’re not going to be in the business of having repetitive extensions. We have a deal.”
Trump hinted at a positive outcome earlier in the day, suggesting 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!”
