WASHINGTON — President Trump claimed Friday that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping “made progress” on a deal to keep TikTok available in the US — and announced that he will visit Beijing early next year.
“I just completed a very productive call with President Xi of China. We made progress on many very important issues including Trade, Fentanyl, the need to bring the War between Russia and Ukraine to an end, and the approval of the TikTok Deal,” Trump wrote on Truth Social following the morning chat.
Trump, 79, also said that he and Xi, 72, agreed to meet at the APEC summit set for Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 in South Korea and the Chinese leader would come to the US “at an appropriate time.”
One of the topics Trump says he and Jinping covered was “the approval of the TikTok Deal.” AFP via Getty Images
Trump claims that he “completed a very productive call with President Xi of China.” AP“The call was a very good one, we will be speaking again by phone, appreciate the TikTok approval, and both look forward to meeting at APEC!” the president concluded.
The call with Xi was Trump’s first known conversation with the Chinese leader since June, when the two leaders were caught up in a fierce trade battle with tariff rates going as high as 145%.
Trump has delayed on four separate occasions the implementation of a law requiring TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to divest itself of the video-sharing app or face a ban in the US over national security concerns.
“We made progress on many very important issues including Trade, Fentanyl, the need to bring the War between Russia and Ukraine to an end, and the approval of the TikTok Deal,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. REUTERSThe latest extension was approved on Tuesday and runs until Dec. 16, after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had revealed there had been a “framework” agreement reached to keep the platform online without divulging details.
Trump stopped short of saying an agreement had been finalized in his Truth Social post, but told reporters in the Oval Office Friday that the call went “great” and he was looking “forward to getting that deal closed.”
“We’re going to have very tight control,” he said of the app’s valuable algorithm.
Trump has delayed on four separate occasions the implementation of a law requiring TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to divest itself or be banned. AFP via Getty Images“Very famous people actually, they’ll have control of it,” added Trump, noting the platform would be run by “all American people.”
US and Chinese officials held talks in Madrid on Monday, after which Chinese official Li Chenggang stressed that Beijing’s position involves a focus on free markets and companies coming to their own decisions without “politicization,” per state media.
Trump has been criticized by some Republicans over his affinity for the app, which has been decried as a data-collecting, US-undermining tool of the Chinese government.
The president told reporters Thursday in England that he sees “tremendous value” in TikTok, arguing it helped boost his standing among young voters in the 2024 election.
“I like TikTok. It helped get me elected,” Trump said. Getty Images“I hate to give away value,” Trump said, adding “I like TikTok. It helped get me elected.”
The president has also mentioned that conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated Sept. 10 during an event at Utah Valley University, was one of the people who pushed him the hardest to be on the app during the election.
Craig Singleton, China program senior director and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, argued that Friday’s call was a win for Xi.
“Today’s call and all the summit talk really allows Xi Jinping to argue that Washington must engage China on China’s terms. So both capitals are obviously going to call this recent teleconference as “constructive,” he said in a statement. “Beijing is banking on optics and time, while Washington is chasing a TikTok headline and a summit and hopes, I think, for more wins later.”
