On Friday, US President Donald Trump said that Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed to an agreement that will allow the video-sharing site TikTok to keep running in the US. This was a big step forward. After a phone call between the two leaders, the deal aims to end a long-standing impasse over national security and data privacy.
President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, “I had a good call with President Xi.” He gave the TikTok deal the green light. We can’t wait to finish the deal. He said that the US will have “tight control” over the app and that it was a “very good deal” for Washington. The President also complimented Xi and said, “He was a gentleman.” We got along well.
The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times said that the planned deal would give a group of American investors an 80% share in a new US-based company that is part of TikTok. Chinese companies, including ByteDance, the parent company, would own the other 20%.
After a long time of political and legal fighting over the app’s future in the US, the agreement has been made. In April 2024, a law was introduced that would have made it illegal for TikTok to run in the country unless its Chinese ownership was sold. The Trump administration has, however, repeatedly pushed out the deadline for the ban. The President has also said publicly that he supports the app, which he says helped him win over younger people.
ByteDance sent out a statement praising both leaders for their “attention to TikTok” shortly after Trump’s announcement. The company said that it “will move forward with related work in accordance with Chinese law, allowing TikTok U.S. to continue serving American users well.” Some critics and lawmakers are still worried about the deal’s tiny language, especially when it comes to how the app’s sophisticated recommendation algorithm will be controlled and secured.