US, China reach agreement to keep TikTok operating in US

President Donald J. Trump on Tuesday announced an agreement between the US 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.

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‘The agreement requires TikTok’s American assets to be transferred to US 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 US 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,” Mr. Trump said at a White House briefing, without providing further details. The announcement comes a day before a Sept. 17 deadline to sell or shut down the short video app.

Later in the day the White House extended that deadline until Dec. 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 US owners, suggesting much work needs to be done to close the complex transaction.

The US entity will have an American-dominated board, the Wall Street Journal reported, with one member designated by the US government.

The idea takes a page from a recent national security agreement inked by the Mr. Trump administration that allowed Nippon Steel to buy US Steel after allowing the US to name a board member, in addition to having a Golden Share.