Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that negotiators have reached a final framework on TikTok and that Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping could seal it during a meeting in Korea on Thursday.
On Sunday, October 26, 2025, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CBS’s Face the Nation that talks over TikTok “reached a final deal,” adding that details had been ironed out and that the two leaders would “consummate that transaction on Thursday in Korea.” He said the outline was reached during U.S.-China discussions in Madrid. (cbsnews.com)
Pressed by host Margaret Brennan on whether China had agreed to give up control of TikTok’s algorithm, Bessent declined to discuss terms, saying his remit was to secure Chinese approval for the transaction rather than the commercial specifics. (cbsnews.com)
The negotiations follow a 2024 law signed by then‑President Joe Biden requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations or face a ban. Since taking office, Trump has repeatedly delayed enforcement to allow time for a deal, most recently through September and then to December 16, 2025. (en.wikipedia.org)
On September 25, 2025, Trump signed an executive order determining that a proposed framework could qualify as a divestiture under the law. At the signing, he said TikTok would be “American‑operated all the way” and credited Xi with approving the deal. Those remarks and the order’s summary have been reported by multiple outlets and the White House. (techcrunch.com)
According to the White House, the framework would remove TikTok’s U.S. app from a foreign adversary’s control; bar any operational relationship with formerly affiliated entities; and require sensitive U.S. user data to be stored in a U.S. cloud environment operated by an American company. Oversight of algorithms, code, and content‑moderation decisions for the U.S. app would shift to the new, U.S.-based venture. (whitehouse.gov)
Bessent said the framework was reached during talks in Madrid, a point also reflected in his mid‑September comments as negotiators met there with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. He characterized recent progress as paving the way for leader‑level approval later this week. (cbsnews.com)
Specific ownership stakes and investor names were not confirmed in Sunday’s interview, and Bessent declined to elaborate on commercial details. (cbsnews.com)