A deal to bring TikTok’s U.S. operations under American ownership has been finalized and should be signed soon, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
She added that the U.S. would have control over the app’s algorithm and data security.
The Chinese regime’s public readout offered a more cautious tone, saying only that companies were free to conduct “commercial negotiations based on market rules.”
TikTok’s fate has become a vexing issue.
Congress passed a bipartisan bill in 2024 requiring the social media app’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, to divest or face a ban. The bill was signed into law by President Joe Biden before he left office.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly delayed the law’s enforcement while seeking a settlement that would keep the app—used by more than 170 million Americans—online under U.S. control to address national security concerns over Beijing’s potential access to user data.
In the interview, Leavitt said the administration is “100 percent confident that a deal is done” and expects it to be signed in the coming days.
“Great credit to [Treasury] Secretary [Scott] Bessent and [Trade] Ambassador [Jamieson] Greer and our Vice President, JD Vance, who really led the charge on this, and have been negotiating with the Chinese for months,” she said.
“They were able to accomplish a deal that puts America first and keeps TikTok open for all of the young Americans and all of the small businesses who have benefited greatly from selling their products and really creating a name for themselves on this highly popular app.”
Leavitt said TikTok’s U.S. business would be majority-owned by Americans, overseen by a seven-member board with six American directors, while data and privacy protections would be managed by Oracle.
“The algorithm will also be controlled by America,” she added.
U.S. negotiators have insisted the algorithm must be under American control.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters after talks in Madrid that Chinese officials “are interested in Chinese characteristics of the app, which they think are soft power. We don’t care about Chinese characteristics. We care about national security.”
Speaking from the Oval Office after his call with Xi, Trump told reporters the deal had been “approved” and that “we’re in the process” of finalizing details.
“It was great. I had a great call with President Xi, and as you know, he approved the TikTok deal. And we’re in the process. We have some great investors, big, some of the biggest in the world, American investors, great people, and we look forward to getting that deal closed,” Trump said.
When asked whether he would accept a deal where China controlled TikTok’s algorithm, Trump replied: “It’s all being worked out. We’re going to have very good control.”
He added that he would meet Xi at the APEC summit in South Korea later this year and travel to China in early 2026.
