President Donald Trump suggested early Monday that a deal with China has been made about the future of the popular social media app TikTok.
In a post on his Truth Social site, Trump shared that the trade and tariff meeting with China, hosted in Madrid over the weekend, had gone “VERY WELL.”
Trump did not specifically name TikTok in his post, but alluded to the app, which he credits to helping him win the 2024 presidential election.
“A deal was also reached on a ‘certain’ company that young people in our Country very much wanted to save,” he said. “They will be very happy!”
Trump said he would be speaking with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday and the relationship between the two leaders remains “a very strong one.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, speaking from Madrid on Monday, confirmed that a “framework” for a deal had been reached.
The fate of TikTok was up in the air for months. The app’s Chinese parent company, Bytedance, was ordered to reach a deal and sell TikTok or shut it down in the United States. Congress passed the ban last year and it was later upheld by the Supreme Court. Bipartisan concern stemmed from American users’ data being shared with the Chinese government.
The app briefly went dark for users in January, but on Trump’s first day in office, he pushed the deadline until April as negotiations for securing a deal stalled amid his tariff rollout. Trump signed an order to push back the deadline until mid-June, but the president extended the ban deadline for a third time, pushing it back until Sept. 17.
Trump stressed in the past that he has a “sweet spot” because it is used by so many young voters, who he says helped him win the recent election.
Several American investors and businesses have made bids to buy TikTok, including Microsoft, Amazon and Oracle.
One potential buyer, Reid Rasner, spoke with the Deseret News in June after the last delay, saying he thought “enough is enough” and it should be the last extension between the U.S. and China.
Another potential buyer, Tomicah Tillemann, the president of Project Liberty, expressed a similar sentiment and said he was hopeful the June extension would be the last.
