U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced a “framework” deal following a meeting with senior Chinese officials in Madrid, but they declined to provide the commercial terms of the agreement. Bessent told reporters that further details would be determined during a Friday phone call between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
President Trump confirmed the progress on his Truth Social platform, stating that the trade talks with China had gone “very well” and hinted that a deal had been reached to resolve the dispute over TikTok’s ownership. “A deal was also reached on a certain company that young people in our Country very much wanted to save. They will be very happy!” Trump wrote.
The announcement comes just days before TikTok faces a potential shutdown in the U.S. as early as September 17 unless its ownership is transferred to an American entity. During the talks, U.S. officials had warned that a ban would proceed if China did not drop its demands for concessions on tariffs and technological restrictions in exchange for the divestiture. Bessent emphasized, “Our Chinese counterparts have come with a very aggressive ask… We are not willing to sacrifice national security for a social media app.”
Negotiations and Tensions The negotiations in Madrid were the fourth round of talks in four months, aimed at addressing strained trade relations and the looming divestiture deadline for TikTok. The talks took place amid broader tensions, including Washington’s pressure on allies to impose tariffs on Chinese imports over China’s purchase of Russian oil. Additionally, Beijing separately announced that a preliminary investigation found the US chip giant Nvidia had violated its anti-monopoly law, an announcement Bessent called “poor timing,” which is widely seen as a retaliatory move against U.S. curbs on China’s chip sector.
