Last week I reported that the U.S. began a fresh round of trade talks with China focused on de-escalating tariffs and resolving the standoff over TikTok. As of last Monday, Sep 15th, U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer said the two countries had struck a framework agreement on transferring TikTok to U.S.-controlled ownership, but that President Trump would have to finalize the deal with President Xi Jinping on Friday.
Here's what has happened since:
- On Tuesday, President Trump extended the deadline for the fourth time, now until Dec 16th. Oh no, my Xmas Toks!
- The Wall Street Journal reported that 80% of TikTok's U.S. business would be owned by an investor consortium that includes Oracle, Silver Lake, and Andreessen Horowitz.
- The Financial Times reported that Wang Jingtao, deputy head of China’s cyber security regulator, said the deal would include “licensing the algorithm and other intellectual property rights.”
- On Tuesday, Scott Bessent claimed that President Trump's willingness to let TikTok shut down in the U.S. was crucial in negotiating the deal, after Beijing indicated that the U.S. version may still use a Chinese algorithm, and that this “turned the tide.” Man, Bessent really loves Trump! Dude won't take credit for anything. Just dishes out praise to Trump.
- Bloomberg's Dave Lee published an opinion piece explaining how the deal “falls short of addressing the national security claims that got us here in the first place. The black box for the all-important algorithm remains sealed.”
- Digiday's Krystal Scanlon wrote an article about the ambiguity and uncertainness that the deal brings to U.S. small businesses and marketers.
- On Friday, President Trump wrote on Truth Social following a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, that he and Xi “made progress on many very important issues” and specifically thanked Xi for “the TikTok approval.”
- Reuters revealed that the agreement will include ByteDance getting to choose one of seven board members for the new U.S. entity.
- The White House said on Saturday that the emerging TikTok deal with China will ensure that U.S. companies control the algorithm that powers the app's video feed.
- President Trump hinted on Sunday that Lachlan Murdoch, the heir to billionaire Rupert Murdoch's media empire, might be involved in the deal.
- The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration is expected to collect a multi-billion dollar fee from investors for negotiating the TikTok deal.
- Today (Mon, Sep 22nd), the White House clarified that the app's algorithm will be operated in the U.S. and overseen by Oracle. It also noted that the deal will not involve the Trump administration taking an equity stake in the company (but no mention of a commission for brokering the transaction).
- The White House also said today that the U.S. is confident that China has approved the deal and does not plan to have further talks about its details, but that additional paperwork is required from both sides to approve the deal.
ByteDance and Beijing have been cautious when commenting publicly on negotiations with the Trump administration over the app's U.S. operations, publicly acknowledging the ongoing commercial talks, but making less definitive statements than Trump's assertions that a deal is finalized.
Like I've been saying all along…. I'll believe it when I see it.