Trump Says Deal Reached to keep Tiktok Operating in US
A deal has been struck between the United States and China to allow TikTok to continue operating in America, President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday.
“We have a deal on TikTok. I’ve reached an agreement with China, and I’ll be speaking to President Xi on Friday to confirm,” Trump told reporters before departing the White House for a state visit to the UK.
The Chinese-owned platform, run by ByteDance, has faced a ban in the US unless it divested its American operations. While Trump has repeatedly postponed the ban since first proposing it in January, the deadline has now been extended again to 16 December.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the arrangement under negotiation would place TikTok’s US business under a new entity controlled by an investor consortium. The group is expected to include Oracle, Silver Lake, and Andreessen Horowitz, with US investors holding around 80% ownership. The board would be dominated by Americans, including one member chosen by the US government.
US users are expected to transition to a new version of the app that will run on algorithms licensed from ByteDance, seen as critical to TikTok’s popularity. Oracle would continue hosting TikTok’s US servers, a key demand from lawmakers concerned about data security.
Reports suggest the deal could be finalized within 30 to 45 days.
Chinese officials confirmed a “framework agreement” but emphasized that any final deal must protect the interests of Chinese firms. Wang Jingtao, deputy head of China’s cyberspace administration, said Beijing would review issues related to technology exports and intellectual property licensing.
TikTok has been at the centre of a years-long battle over security concerns. The US Supreme Court earlier upheld a 2024 law banning the app unless ByteDance sold its American arm. The Justice Department has warned TikTok poses a “national-security threat of immense depth and scale.”
ByteDance has denied those allegations, insisting its US operations are fully independent and that American user data is not shared with Beijing.
The ban has already been delayed four times, with TikTok briefly going offline in January before restrictions were paused. The latest deadline expires 16 December.
About The Author
