WASHINGTON
\nPresident Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will seek an agreement on Friday to help keep the video app TikTok online in the US and ease tensions between two superpowers locked in a standoff over trade. The agreement is at the top of the agenda alongside trade for the leaders\u2019 first known call in three months, expected on Friday morning, US officials said. However, China has not confirmed plans for the call.
\nTrump and Xi\u2019s effort to steady relations comes as the two governments have been discussing a potential in-person summit between Xi and Trump during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea from October 30 to November 1, Reuters has reported. Beijing\u2019s sign-off is one of the hurdles Trump needed to clear to keep TikTok open. Congress had ordered the app shut down for US users by January 2025 if its US assets weren\u2019t sold by Chinese owner ByteDance.
\nTrump has declined to enforce the law while his administration looks for a new owner, but also because he worries a ban on the app would anger TikTok\u2019s huge user base and disrupt political communications. US flag and TikTok logo are seen in this illustration taken January 8, 2025. \u2014 Reuters
\n\u201cI like TikTok; it helped get me elected,\u201d Trump said during a press conference on Thursday. \u201cTikTok has tremendous value. The US has that value in its hand because we\u2019re the ones that have to approve it\u201d.Key questions about the deal remain. It\u2019s not clear the precise ownership structure of the company, how much control China will retain or whether Congress will approve.
\nThe deal would transfer TikTok\u2019s US assets to US owners from ByteDance, Reuters reported. Sources familiar with the deal said US TikTok would still make use of ByteDance\u2019s algorithm.That arrangement worries lawmakers concerned that Beijing could spy on Americans or conduct influence operations through the app. China has said there is no evidence of a national security threat posed by the app. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will seek an agreement on Friday to help keep the video app TikTok online in the US and ease tensions between two superpowers locked in a standoff over trade. The agreement is at the top of the agenda alongside trade for the leaders\u2019 first known call […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503861,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-503836","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n