US Treasury’s Bessent says China has approved TikTok transfer deal

United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that the transfer agreement for the short video app TikTok has been approved by China, adding that he anticipates it will advance in the coming weeks and months without providing any additional information.

Following US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Bessent stated on Thursday that “we finalized the TikTok agreement in terms of getting Chinese approval,” and that “will eventually go forward.”

In a statement released earlier on Thursday, China’s Commerce Ministry stated that it would cooperate with the US in handling TikTok-related issues. According to a Chinese official, “The Chinese side will work with the US side to properly address issues relating to TikTok.”

ByteDance, a Chinese company, did not respond to requests for comment immediately.

After the US Congress passed a law in 2024 mandating TikTok’s Chinese owners to sell its US assets by January 2025, the app’s fate has been a subject of uncertainty for more than 18 months.

Trump gave them 120 days to complete the transaction by signing an executive order last month that stated that the plan to sell TikTok’s US operations to a consortium of US and international investors complies with the 2024 law’s national security requirements. Additionally, he delayed enforcing the law until 2021.

According to Trump’s order, the US company’s security partners will retrain and monitor the algorithm, and the new joint venture will be in charge of its operation.

One of the seven board members for the new organization, with Americans holding the other six seats, is appointed by ByteDance as part of the agreement regarding TikTok’s US operations.

If ByteDance did not sell its US assets, it would have to comply with requirements set out in the law that required it to be shut down by January 2025.