US President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced an agreement between the U.S. and China to keep TikTok operating in the United States, with three sources familiar with the matter saying the deal was similar to one discussed earlier this year, APA reports citing Reuters.
The agreement requires TikTok's American assets to be transferred to U.S. owners from China's ByteDance, potentially resolving a saga that has lingered for nearly a year.
A deal for the popular social media app, which counts 170 million U.S. users, would represent a breakthrough in months-long talks between the two biggest economies as they seek to defuse a wide-ranging trade war that has unnerved global markets.
"We have a deal on TikTok ... We have a group of very big companies that want to buy it," Trump said at a White House briefing, without providing further details. The announcement comes a day before a September 17 deadline to sell or shut down the short video app.
Later in the day the White House extended that deadline until December 16. The White House declined to provide any further details on the agreement with China.
The delay will give ByteDance another 90 days to finalize an agreement to transfer TikTok's American assets to U.S. owners, suggesting much work needs to be done to close the complex transaction.
The U.S. entity will have an American-dominated board, the Wall Street Journal reported, with one member designated by the U.S. government.
