US president Donald Trump said he plans to meet Chinese Premier Xi Jinping in South Korea next month following a phone call in which the Chinese leader also approved of a deal to take control of TikTok’s US operations.
Trump wrote on Truth Social the call was “productive” and the approval was “appreciated”, adding that he would travel to China next year after the two meet.
TikTok, which is run by Chinese firm Bytedance, was previously told it had to sell its US operations or risk being shut down.
Trump, however, delayed implementing the ban four times since it was first announced in January, and earlier this week extended the deadline again to December.
In his post, Trump wrote the two “made progress” on trade issues and would meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea, scheduled to begin at the end of October.
That, he said, would be followed by a visit to China and a subsequent visit by Xi to the US.
The president provided no further details on the TikTok deal, which he said earlier this week that the call would confirm.
That deal will reportedly see a group of US firms- said to include Oracle – that would enable TikTok to continue operating in the US, using algorithm technology licensed from ByteDance.
Xinhua reported that China’s position on TikTok is “very clear” and that it welcomed firms to “conduct commercial negotiations based on market rules and reach solutions that comply with Chinese laws and regulations and a balance of interests”.
“We hope that the US will provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies to invest in the United States,” it added.
Speaking alongside British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in the UK on Thursday, Trump said he believes TikTok has “tremendous value” to the US.
“The people that are investing it are among the greatest investors in the world,” he said. “And they’ll do a great job – and we’re doing it in conjunction with China.”
Still, many US lawmakers – including some from within Trump’s own party – have expressed unease with the deal, citing ongoing concerns about ByteDance’s links with the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP.
“I am concerned the reported licensing deal may involve ongoing reliance by the new TikTok on a ByteDance algorithm that could allow continued CCP control or influence,” Michigan Republican representative John Moolenar, chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said in a statement.
While Trump initially called for TikTok to be banned during his first term, he has changed course, and on Thursday said he viewed the platform as a key part of his 2024 electoral campaign.
In January, the US Supreme Court upheld a law first passed in early 2024, banning the app unless ByteDance divested from its US operations. The app went “dark” only briefly at the time, before the ban was delayed.
The US Justice Department had previously expressed concerns that TikTok’s access to the data of US users posed a national security threat of “immense depth and scale”.
The call between Xi and Trump is the second so far this year.
In June, the two leaders spoke to discuss China’s export of rare earth minerals, resulting in China agreeing to approve a “certain number” of export permits to US companies, as well as the magnets made from them.
Chinese and US officials have held four rounds of talks in recent months, and so far held off on implementing extremely high tariffs and strict export controls.
The US has already imposed 20% tariffs on some Chinese goods it says are linked to fentanyl trafficking.
Other thorny issues – including tech export restrictions and Chinese purchases of US agricultural products – so far remain unresolved.
