Trump and Xi Set to Finalize TikTok Divestiture Deal on Thursday
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Sunday that President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to finalize the TikTok deal during their meeting in South Korea this week.
October 26, 2025 - 05:43 PM ET • 3 min read
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Sunday that the deal requiring the divestiture of the social media platform TikTok is set to be finalized this week when President Donald Trump meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea.
Bessent, speaking on the program "Face the Nation," stated that the two nations had reached "a final deal on TikTok" and that all remaining details had been resolved.
"We reached a final deal on TikTok. We reached one in Madrid, and I believe that as of today, all the details are ironed out, and that will be for the two leaders to consummate that transaction on Thursday in Korea," Bessent said.
The anticipated finalization follows an executive order signed by President Trump in late September, which paved the way for a deal to keep TikTok operating in the U.S. under a new corporate structure involving American investors.
The transaction, which has been estimated to be worth $14 billion, is designed to create a U.S. entity that would control the platform. Under the terms previously outlined, American investors are expected to hold an 80% stake in the new entity. TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, would maintain a minority stake of less than 20%.
This corporate restructuring is intended to satisfy a law passed by Congress in April 2024, which mandated the divestiture of the platform from its Chinese ownership structure.
Bessent confirmed that the agreement was initially reached during earlier discussions in Madrid. He emphasized that his specific mandate in the negotiations was focused on securing the necessary regulatory approval from the Chinese government for the transaction to proceed.
"My remit was to get the Chinese to agree to approve the transaction, and I believe we successfully accomplished that over the past two days," the Treasury Secretary stated. Bessent made his comments while speaking from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where American and Chinese officials had been engaged in broader trade discussions.
While confirming the diplomatic success in securing Beijing's approval, Bessent noted that he was "not part of the commercial side of the transaction," indicating that the specific financial and operational details of the sale were handled by other parties.
The meeting between President Trump and President Xi on Thursday in South Korea is expected to serve as the formal venue for the final sign-off on the divestiture. The announcement of the TikTok deal progress comes amid ongoing efforts by the U.S. and China to make progress on a wider trade agreement between the two countries.