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The Trump administration is working on a deal with China to determine TikTok's fate, which could be finalized by the end of this week, according to reports citing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that US and Chinese teams this week discussed a plan in which TikTok's US operations would be controlled by an investor consortium that includes software giant Oracle. US users would move to a new app that TikTok is testing and that would recreate content-recommendation algorithms for the app. The Journal noted that details of the deal have yet to be finalized and could be subject to change.
President Trump has plans to talk on Friday with China's President Xi Jinping about the fate of the Chinese-owned social media platform, reports said. Bessent said Monday that the two countries have reached a preliminary deal and "commercial terms have been agreed upon."
The key question is whether ownership of TikTok will transfer to a US-based company. The platform could shut down temporarily in the US, as it has before, in accordance with a federal law passed last year in response to national security and privacy considerations. That law requires TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to sell the social media service to a US-based company or essentially be off limits in the US. The initial deadline, set for January, has already been extended three times as Trump has teased progress on the matter.
Neither TikTok nor the Treasury Department responded to requests for comment.
An agreement over TikTok has been complicated by ongoing trade warring between the US and China and a new ruling against US-based Nvidia. China claims Nvidia has violated anti-monopoly laws in that country.
Skepticism about a TikTok deal
Even with the administration's suggestion that a deal is imminent, it's possible that TikTok's future could remain in limbo even longer.
"I have seen the TikTok negotiations stall and shift so many times that I am not holding my breath on a deal being completed this week," said Star Kashman, founder of Cyber Law Firm, who's been following the TikTok saga. "Every time we hear about progress or a framework getting reached, some external complication throws the whole negotiation back into limbo."
Tariffs and the Nvidia claims have further complicated what was already a complex negotiation over TikTok, she said. "It is likely that too much is already at play, including ByteDance's potential obligations to the Chinese government, national security concerns, and privacy issues, as well as the desire to keep TikTok's addictive algorithm, without isolating and segregating US users."
Kashman said that none of the parties have been transparent about what would happen to TikTok under US ownership, including addressing reports that a US-only TIkTok app would be offered.
Negotiation factors
If a deal is reached to keep TikTok available in the US, it could be just the start of wrangling over the platform's future, said one expert on US-China relations.
"The Chinese generally look at the signing of a deal as the beginning of negotiations, not the end," said Usha Haley, Barton Distinguished Chair in International Business at Wichita State University. "So the devil will be in the details as they unfold over several years."
Haley said that any deal would be subject to congressional scrutiny and could set a precedent for how future foreign-based apps operate in the US.
The Trump administration would likely insist on US-based storage of TikTok data, independent oversight and insulation from Chinese legal and political demands, while China's government would want to protect its tech champion and maintain cultural influence, she said.
Whatever requirements the US imposes, Haley said, China might still find a way to maintain some control over TikTok by "keeping some possibly secret doors and trapdoors open for intervention in the future, if needed."
