US close to resolving TikTok issue with China – Treasury Secretary says
The United States and China are “very close” to resolving the TikTok issue, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters on Monday as trade discussions resumed in Madrid.
Bessent, speaking as he and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer began a second day of talks, said: “I think on the TikTok deal itself, we are very close or we’ve resolved the issue. There is a range of other asks that are unresolved.” He added that the Chinese side had made an “aggressive ask” in the negotiations.
Greer said the talks had addressed trade imbalances but had not “found a path forward on that.”
The near-deal comes against a legal and regulatory backdrop that has pushed TikTok toward forced divestiture: Congress passed a “sale-or-ban” law, and the issue was sustained through litigation and review, leaving ByteDance under pressure to separate U.S. operations or face restrictions. U.S. national security concerns date back to CFIUS reviews and a 2020 executive order, which framed data access and potential foreign influence as the central risks.
A looming Sept. 17 deadline for divestiture has been widely reported. Still, officials and analysts expect another short extension while talks continue, underscoring the central question: can technical and structural safeguards satisfy U.S. security demands without wholly severing foreign ownership?
Any final agreement will be judged less by a headline and more by enforceable safeguards — code audits, independent oversight, and verifiable data controls that can withstand political and legal scrutiny.
