Senior White House officials on China and TikTok deal: Confident regulatory hurdles will move forward

Senior White House officials on China and TikTok deal: Confident regulatory hurdles will move forward

Senior White House officials have expressed confidence that regulatory hurdles for the proposed US-China agreement on TikTok will be overcome in the coming days. The deal, which aims to address national security concerns, would see Americans control six of seven board seats for TikTok's US operations .

According to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, the algorithm controlling TikTok's US operations will also be managed by the US, with tech giant Oracle responsible for data and security. Leavitt stated, "We are 100% confident that a deal is done. Now that deal just needs to be signed, and the president's team is working with their Chinese counterparts to do just that" .

The agreement, which comes after several delays in the ban of TikTok's US operations, is expected to be finalized soon. President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the deal in a lengthy phone call, with Trump expressing confidence that the US will have "very good control" over the app .

The deal is significant as it addresses one of the key issues in ongoing US-China negotiations: whether TikTok would retain its algorithm following a potential divestment of its China-based parent company, ByteDance. Leavitt noted that the algorithm will be controlled by the US, offering more detail on how the deal is taking shape .

The proposed agreement comes amidst ongoing US-China negotiations, with Congress having passed legislation mandating a TikTok ban to take effect in January. However, Trump repeatedly signed orders allowing the app to continue operating in the United States while his administration worked to reach an agreement for ByteDance to sell its US operations .

The Chinese government has expressed support for negotiations within market rules and Chinese law, but has not yet confirmed the specifics of the agreement .