TikTok sale: Trump speaks of agreement, China demands concessions

A phone call between US President Donald Trump and China's head of state on Friday also touched on the sale of TikTok's US business to American investors. According to Trump, the deal is "approved", but there has been no word from China on this.

A few days earlie, new details about the sale had been revealed. TikTok's US subsidiary is to be taken over by a consortium consisting of Oracle, the investment companies Andreessen Horowitz and Silver Lake, and existing investors in ByteDance. The coveted algorithm will remain in Chinese hands and will be licensed to the new US operators for their own version.

Xi still talks of negotiations

So far, so clear, but after Friday's talks, China, and the US have differing accounts of the state of affairs. According to the US broadcaster Bloomberg , Trump said at the White House that the deal now only needed to be "signed." A statement from the Chinese government reads much more cautiously. China respects the wishes of the company concerned and welcomes negotiations that are in line with Chinese laws and market rules and consider the interests of both sides, Xi Jinping said in the statement.

According to the statement, Xi also urged that further trade restrictions be avoided so as not to undermine the progress made in relations between the two countries.

Face-to-face meeting next month

TikTok should actually have been banned in the US long ago. Trump's predecessor administration had passed a law requiring a sale to US buyers or a shutdown in the US. The background to this was fears that China could use the app to influence US citizens.

However, Trump, who also attributes his success with young voters to the app, has repeatedly granted extensions for a sale. For China, TikTok is now apparently becoming a means of obtaining concessions from Trump on other issues. Further developments are expected next month, when Trump and Xi are scheduled to meet in person at the APEC economic summit in South Korea.

(nen)