Trump to hold call with Xi on Friday as TikTok deal framework is finalised

Daniel Flatley, Olivia Tam and Daniel Basteiro

 

President Donald Trump said he would speak on Friday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, following talks between negotiators from the world’s two largest economies in recent days that resulted in a framework deal to keep ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok app running in the US. 

“I will be speaking to President Xi on Friday. The relationship remains a very strong one!!!,” Trump said in a post on social media Monday. 

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters after Trump’s post — as discussions in Madrid wrapped up — that a framework to keep the TikTok app running in the US had been reached and that Trump and Xi would speak to complete the deal. The terms of the blueprint remain unclear. 

“President Trump and party Chair Xi will speak on Friday to complete the deal, but we do have a framework for the deal with TikTok,” Bessent said. “I think the framework is for it to switch to US-controlled ownership.” 

Trump and Bessent’s comments come ahead of a deadline this week to secure a deal that would divest TikTok’s American operations to comply with a US national security law. Trump has already extended the deadline more than once to keep the popular app, which he credits with boosting his appeal among younger voters in the last election, running. 

Tariff Pause 

High-level engagement between Washington and Beijing has kicked up a gear this month ahead of a potential in-person summit meeting between Trump and Xi when both are expected to attend an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in South Korea at the end of next month. Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth spoke with their Chinese counterparts. 

The two nations have suspended the most extreme economic protection measures against each other, which saw US tariffs go up as high as 145 per cent, with the latest deadline coming in mid-November. 

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, also speaking in Madrid on Monday, indicated that another extension in the pause on the highest tariff levels is possible when the November deadline arrives. 

“We’re certainly open to considering further action there, if the talks continue in a positive direction,” Greer told reporters. 

Next Round 

The Madrid talks were focused on TikTok, with negotiations on other topics essentially deferred, Bessent and Greer indicated. Even so, Chinese officials raised concerns about American export controls, he said. 

Ahead of the talks on Sunday, China launched two investigations targeting the US semiconductor industry. The probes came shortly after the US added 23 more China-based companies, including chipmakers, to a list of businesses deemed to be “acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the US.” 

Bessent told reporters Monday, “We will be holding trade negotiations in about a month, again at a different location.” The latest round follows earlier talks between Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in London in June and Geneva in May.  The Treasury chief said it “remains to be seen” whether a trade deal can be done with China before the APEC summit in Korea. 

“We’re very focused on Tiktok and making sure that it was a deal that is fair for the Chinese and completely respects US national security concerns, and that’s definitely reached,” Greer said.