Trump says he and China's Xi made progress on TikTok and trade, to meet soon

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping made progress on a TikTok deal and agreed to a face-to-face meeting as soon as next month in South Korea. 

It was the first call between the two leaders in three months, as they sought to lower tensions in a strained relationship that has been marked by successive trade talks.

"We made progress on many very important issues including trade, fentanyl, the need to bring the war between Russia and Ukraine to an end, and the approval of the TikTok Deal," Trump wrote on social media. 

Trump said that the two leaders would meet at the APEC summit in South Korea that begins next month and that he would go to China early next year. He also said Xi would come to the US at a later date. 

"The call was a very good one, we will be speaking again by phone, appreciate the TikTok approval, and both look forward to meeting at APEC!" Trump wrote. 

But China’s readout made no reference to a final TikTok agreement. According to Xinhua, Xi told Trump that China “respects the will of firms and welcomes companies to conduct business negotiations on the basis of market rules to reach a solution consistent with Chinese laws and regulations while balancing interests”.

The statement did not spell out the terms of an agreement between the leaders on TikTok. 

The White House did not immediately comment. 

On Thursday, Trump told Fox News it sounded like China had approved a deal to change ownership of video-sharing app TikTok.

The US president had on Tuesday announced that a deal was struck that would keep the app operating in the United States, transferring its US assets to US owners.

"We had a very good meeting the other day, and it sounds like they've approved TikTok."

A deal for the app, which has 170 million US users, is a breakthrough between the two largest economies.

Trump has repeatedly put off a ban against TikTok under a law designed to force the app's sale from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, for national security reasons.

US and Chinese officials announced the deal in principle in Madrid following trade talks, but did not give details or answer key questions then. The terms of the deal were also not disclosed, but "the commercial terms have been agreed upon".

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at the time that the objective of the deal would be to switch to American ownership.

The US president, speaking in the UK on Thursday, said the TikTok deal would be "owned by all American investors, and very rich people and companies".

"Very, very straight, very legitimate companies and really companies that love America, so they're going to be owning it," he said.

He also said that his relationship with China is "very good".

"You know, we have a trade deal with them, we had a very good meeting the other day."