China has approved the transfer agreement for the short video app TikTok, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday, adding that he expects it to move forward in coming weeks and months but giving no other details.
âIn Kuala Lumpur, we finalised the TikTok agreement in terms of getting Chinese approval, and I would expect that would go forward in the coming weeks and months, and weâll finally see a resolution to that,â he told Fox Business Networkâs âMornings with Mariaâ following president Donald Trumpâs meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Chinaâs Commerce Ministry said in a statement earlier on Thursday that the country would properly handle TikTok-related issues with the United States. A Chinese spokesperson added, âthe Chinese side will work with the US side to properly address issues related to TikTok.â
TikTok, which is owned by China-based ByteDance, did not immediately comment.
The fate of the app used by 170 million Americans has remained uncertain for more than 18 months after the US Congress passed a law in 2024 that ordered TikTokâs Chinese owners to sell the appâs US assets by January 2025.
Trump signed an executive order on September 25 declaring that the plan to sell TikTokâs US operations to a consortium of US and global investors meets the national security requirements set out in the 2024 law and gave them 120 days to complete the transaction. He also delayed enforcement of the law until January 20, 2026.
Trumpâs order said the algorithm will be retrained and monitored by the US companyâs security partners, and that operation of the algorithm will be under the control of the new joint venture.
The agreement on TikTokâs US operations includes the appointment by ByteDance of one of seven board members for the new entity, with Americans holding the other six seats.
ByteDance would hold less than 20 percent in TikTok US to comply with requirements set out in the law that ordered it to be shut down by January 2025 if ByteDance did not sell its US assets.
US Representative John Moolenaar, the Republican chair of the House Select Committee on China, said this month that a licensing agreement for use of the TikTok algorithm, as part of the deal by ByteDance to sell US assets of the short video app, would raise âserious concerns.â
By Andrea Shalal
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What We Do and Donât Know About US TikTok Deal With China
How the framework evolves will likely have ramifications for the broader US social media landscape, too, where rivals including Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc. are jostling for market share.
