WASHINGTON (Reuters)-United States President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the US and China have an agreement that would keep Tiktok operating in the United States, transferring its US assets currently detained by Chinese bytedance to new American owners, potentially resolving a saga that has been going on for almost a year.
A deal about the popular social media application, which has 170 million users in the US, represents a breakthrough in months negotiations between economies number 1 and number 2 in the world, which tried to neutralize a comprehensive trade war responsible for unnerving global markets.
“We have an agreement on Tiktok … We have a group of very large companies that want to buy it,” Trump said, without providing further details.
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He praised the trade agreement signed with China, calling him improvement to both countries, and said he would preserve dozens of billions of dollars in value.
“The children want that so much that parents are calling me. They don’t want it to themselves. They want it for their children,” Trump said.
Any agreement could require the approval of the Congress controlled by Republicans, which passed a law in 2024 during the government of then-Democratic President Joe Biden that required alienation due to the fear that data from US Tiktok users could be accessed by the Chinese government, allowing Beijing to spy to the Americans or conduct influence operations through the application.
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The Trump government repeatedly refused to apply a law that required the application to close due to concerns that it would irritate users and interrupt political communications, extending the divestment period on three different occasions.
Trump credited to the application that he helped him win the presidential election last year, and his personal account has 15 million followers. The White House launched an official Tiktok account last month.
CNBC reported on Tuesday that the deal is expected to be closed in the next 30 to 45 days and that the deal will include existing investors at Bytedance, Tiktok controlling company in China, and new investors.
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Reuters did not independently verify the CNBC report. However, the details are in accordance with the Reuters report in April, which would turn Tiktok’s agreement into the US-based and majority-owned company in a new company operated by US investors.
Tarifas e tiktok
An agreement about Tiktok was being worked on the northern hemisphere’s spring, but was suspended after China indicated that it would not approve it after Trump advertisements from heavy Chinese products.
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Washington stated that the fact that Bytedance owns Tiktok makes it debt with the Chinese government and that Beijing could use the application to collect data on the Americans.
The company said US authorities have erroneously evaluated their ties with China, arguing that their content recommendation mechanism and user data is stored in the US cloud servers operated by Oracle, while content moderation decisions that affect US users are also taken in the US.
CNBC also reported on Tuesday that Oracle will maintain its cloud agreement with Tiktok as part of the agreement. Reuters reported earlier this year that the White House was working on a plan for Oracle, along with an external investor group to take control of application operations.
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As part of the plan, Oracle would have been responsible for dealing with national security issues, Reuters said at the time.
A framework agreement was reached by authorities from both countries on Monday, marking an advance after months of intense negotiations. The White House has been involved at an unprecedented level in conversations about the agreement, which are being closely followed.
Amid the climb of commercial tensions, US and China delegations discussed divestment as part of broader tariff disputes and technology export control regulations.
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A final confirmation about the deal is expected on Friday in a connection between Trump and China’s president, Xi Jinping.
Several suitors, including former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, a startup directed by Onlyfans founder and Amazon, expressed interest in the rapidly growing business that analysts estimate that it can be worth up to $ 50 billion.
