TikTok USA Deal Approved by China, According to Bessent

Photo Credit: Solen Feyissa

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says China has approved the transfer agreement for TikTok US to move forward.

China has approved the transfer agreement for TikTok, according to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who says the move enables plans for TikTok’s U.S. operations to be sold by January. He added that he expects things to move forward in the coming weeks.

“In Kuala Lumpur, we finalized the TikTok agreement in terms of getting Chinese approval, and I would expect that would go forward in the coming weeks and months, and we’ll finally see a resolution to that,” Bessent told Fox Business Network’s Mornings with Maria.

Bessent’s statement follows President Trump’s meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Meanwhile, China’s Commerce Ministry said on Thursday that the country would properly handle TikTok-related issues with the U.S.—perhaps the most that anyone on the China side has acknowledged that a deal with the United States is actually on the table.

It’s been an uncertain 18 months for TikTok, the fate of which in the United States has hinged on a law passed by Congress in 2024 that requires TikTok’s Chinese owners to sell the platform’s U.S. assets or face a federal ban.

Trump signed an executive order the day after returning to office, declaring that the plan to sell TikTok’s U.S. assets to a consortium of U.S. and global investors meets the national security requirements set forth in the 2024 law. While his executive order initially gave them 120 days to complete the transaction, Trump ended up delaying the enforcement of the law several times, with the current date set for January 20, 2026.

According to Trump’s order, the TikTok algorithm—which will be leased to the U.S.—will be retrained and monitored by the U.S. company’s security partners. Operation of the algorithm will thus be under the control of the new joint venture, in theory.

However, U.S. Representative John Moolenaar said that a licensing agreement for use of the TikTok algorithm would raise “serious concerns.”

ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based parent, would hold less than 20% in TikTok U.S. in order to comply with requirements set out in the 2024 law.