© Jack Gruber-USA TODAY
(Malaysia) – The U.S. and China are finalizing an agreement on a TikTok deal to keep the app available.
According to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, officials finalized the deal while meeting in Malaysia, and Bessent expects to finally see the resolution in the “coming weeks and months.” The deal seeks to limit the role of TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to comply with a 2024 law requiring the firm to divest from the platform or face a ban in the U.S.
Trump signed an executive order on Sept. 25 that valued the U.S. assets of TikTok at $14 billion, days after the White House announced a preliminary deal had been struck to keep the short-form video platform available in the U.S.
Under the agreement, President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping approved of TikTok spinning off into a separate U.S. entity, with the majority stake owned by American investors such as Oracle and Silver Lake.
The agreement would spin off TikTok’s U.S. operations to a new joint venture composed of majority American ownership. Oracle, a U.S.-based technology firm, would serve as TikTok’s security provider for its American operations. The full portfolio of ownership would come together at the closing of the deal, expected for the start of 2026.
In January, the platform went dark for less than 24 hours under federal legislation signed into law by former President Joe Biden in 2024, as ByteDance did not divest the platform by a set deadline.
Since January, Trump has signed four executive orders to push back the deadline for when TikTok must be sold.
