Tipsheet

Trump, Bessent Tease Big Announcement About TikTok Deal

Leah Barkoukis
Leah Barkoukis  |  September 15, 2025 9:30 AM

President Trump on Monday suggested a potential TikTok deal had been reached that would make young people “very happy!”

"The big Trade Meeting in Europe between The United States of America, and China,  has gone VERY WELL!" he wrote on Truth Social. "It will be concluding shortly. A deal was also reached on a 'certain' company that young people in our Country very much wanted to save. They will be very happy! I will be speaking to President Xi on Friday. The relationship remains a very strong one!!!"

Elaborating further, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a "framework" for a TikTok deal is in place and it should be completed during Friday’s meeting between Trump and President Xi Jinping. 

“It’s between two private parties, but the commercial terms have been agreed upon,” he said, reports CNBC.

Bessent indicated that the framework could pivot the platform to a U.S.-controlled ownership.

The comments came during the latest round of trade discussions between the U.S. and China. Relations have soured between the two countries in recent months from Trump’s tariffs and other trade restrictions.

At the same time, the U.S. faces a Sept. 17 deadline to either divest TikTok’s U.S. business or shut down the social media app in the country.

Congress passed a law last year prohibiting app store operators like Apple and Google from distributing TikTok in the U.S. due to its “foreign adversary-controlled application” status.

But Trump postponed the shutdown in January, signing an executive order in January that gave ByteDance 75 more days to make a deal. Further extensions came by way of executive orders in April and in June. (CNBC)