The United States and China have reached a final agreement on the sale of TikTok's US operations, Treasury Secretary Scott Besant confirmed on Sunday, marking a breakthrough in a long-running dispute over the video-sharing platform's ownership and data security.
Speaking on CBS's Face the Nation, Besant said the transaction would be formally endorsed by President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping during a bilateral meeting in Korea later this week.
“We have reached a final deal on TikTok,” Besant said. “We reached it in Madrid, and I believe all the details have been decided. It will be up to the two leaders to complete that transaction.”
While Besant declined to share details of the agreement, she confirmed that the TikTok deal is part of a broader trade framework now being negotiated between Washington and Beijing, which is expected to include agriculture, technology access and fentanyl control.
The announcement follows Trump's September 25 executive order, which cleared the way for new US-led ownership of TikTok, including a majority stake from US investors.
Besant said, “My duty was to get the transactions approved by the Chinese.” “I believe we have successfully accomplished this in the last two days.”
According to sources familiar with the negotiations, the deal — which is valued at about $14 billion — would give U.S. and international investors a 65 percent stake in TikTok's U.S. business, while ByteDance and Chinese shareholders would own less than 20 percent each. The deal also hands control of TikTok's algorithms and six out of seven board seats to the new American owners.
The transaction has already faced political scrutiny in Washington. Reports suggest that Rupert Murdoch and Oracle founder Larry Ellison are among the investors supporting the acquisition. The president's 19-year-old son, Barron Trump, has been named by former Trump media associates as a potential board member.
TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, has been at the center of geopolitical tensions since Trump's first term, when he sought to ban the app over national-security concerns. His successor, Joe Biden, signed a bipartisan TikTok ban into law in April 2024, but enforcement was repeatedly delayed to allow time for the ownership transfer.
The timing of the agreement is important. Trump arrived in Malaysia on Sunday ahead of the ASEAN summit, part of a five-day tour of Asia that will culminate in a face-to-face meeting with Xi on Thursday.
The two leaders are expected to discuss soybean and agricultural purchases, the US trade deficit and the US fentanyl crisis, which the White House has cited as justification for maintaining 20 percent tariffs on Chinese imports.
Analysts say the TikTok deal is intended to demonstrate progress in US-China talks ahead of more complex trade discussions later this year.
jamie young
Jamie is a senior reporter at Business Matters, with over a decade of experience in UK SME business reporting. Jamie has a degree in Business Administration and regularly attends industry conferences and workshops. When not reporting on the latest business developments, Jamie is passionate about mentoring emerging journalists and entrepreneurs to inspire the next generation of business leaders.
