WASHINGTON: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday said that China has approved the transfer agreement of the short video sharing app TikTok.
“In Kuala Lumpur, we finalised the TikTok agreement in terms of getting Chinese approval, and I would expect that would go forward in the coming weeks and months, and we’ll finally see a resolution to that,” he told Fox Business Network following President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Bessent did not provide any details of the deal but noted that it forms part of a broader framework agreed upon by both the United States and China.
China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on Thursday that it would appropriately address TikTok-related matters with the United States.
Trump signed an executive order in September, allowing TikTok to operate in the US under a new corporate structure with American investors, though specific details remain undisclosed.
A ban on the app in the US was set to go into effect on January 20, but was extended four times by Trump as his administration worked out a deal to transfer ownership.
TikTok now boasts 1.6 billion monthly users worldwide, with its biggest audiences in the United States (136 million), Indonesia (108 million), Brazil (92 million), Mexico (85 million), and Pakistan (67 million).
Nearly half of its user base is under 30, giving the app a strong cultural foothold among Gen Z and millennials. In the US alone, people spend an average of 35 to 45 hours a month on TikTok — more than on YouTube and far exceeding Facebook.
Washington has long voiced concerns that ByteDance, a Beijing-based company, could be compelled under Chinese law to share data with the parent state, posing risks to privacy and national security.
In 2024, Congress passed the PAFACA, which gave foreign-owned apps until 2025 to divest their US operations or face a nationwide ban.
