Donald Trump and Xi Jinping have spoken over the phone to try and reach an agreement over TikTok’s use in the US and ease the trade stand-off between the two superpowers.
Mr Trump used a post on Truth Social to confirm the call had taken place, saying it was “very productive.”
The two leaders’ effort to steady relations coincides with discussions on a potential in-person meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea on October 30-November 1.
The deal would transfer TikTok’s US assets to US owners from ByteDance.
TikTok is an online video sharing platform owned by the Chinese internet company ByteDance.
“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,” the US president said.
He said he would meet Mr Xi on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in South Korea starting at the end of next month and that he would travel to China next year.
Congress had ordered TikTok be shut down for US users by January 2025 if its US assets weren’t sold by Chinese owner ByteDance.
Mr Trump has declined to enforce the law while his administration looks for a new owner, but also because he worries a ban on the app would anger TikTok’s huge user base and disrupt political communications.
US says TikTok ownership ‘framework’ agreed to with China
“I like TikTok; it helped get me elected,” Mr Trump said during a press conference on Thursday.
“TikTok has tremendous value. The United States has that value in its hand because we’re the ones that have to approve it.”
Key questions about the deal remain.
It’s not clear the precise ownership structure of the company, how much control China will retain or whether Congress will approve.
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Sources familiar with the deal said US TikTok would still make use of ByteDance’s algorithm.
That arrangement worries lawmakers concerned that Beijing could spy on Americans or conduct influence operations through the app.
China has said there is no evidence of a national security threat posed by the app.
Trump has a list of demands
“We’re pretty close to a deal,” Mr Trump said on Thursday, in an apparent reference to larger trade talks.
“We may do an extension with China, but it’s an extension based on the same terms that we have right now, which are pretty good terms.”
Other key issues include competition between both sides on semiconductors and other advanced technologies.
The US wants more Chinese purchases of US-harvested soybeans and Boeing airplanes.
The US is also demanding that China crack down on the export of fentanyl-related chemicals, a major cause of US overdose deaths.
Beijing has accused Washington of distorting the issue.
US-China trade stand-off
Since retaking office in January, Mr Trump sharply hiked tariffs across the board and singled out China’s export-oriented economy with especially punitive rates.
That prompted China to respond.
Tariff rates on both sides of the Pacific rose to triple-digit percentages in April.
US markets plunge again as White House confirms China tariff even higher
A succession of limited agreements since May paused the tit-for-tat tariff war between the countries.
They also set aside issues that led to China choking off rare-earth magnets that Washington needs to make high-tech gadgets.
Mr Trump had blocked Beijing’s access to semiconductor design software, jet engines and some chemicals.
“China’s effective use of sticks and carrots has turned things heavily in their favor,” said head of the Chinese Business and Economics program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Scott Kennedy.
China remains the US’s third-largest trading partner
Tariffs, a tax on US. importers, have been a key plank of Mr Trump’s economic policy, he has raised them to the highest levels in nearly a century.
The Republican has portrayed tariffs as an elixir that can recoup lost manufacturing jobs, cut chronic federal government deficits, correct perceived trade imbalances and bend foreign countries to Washington’s will.
Trump reveals new ‘reciprocal’ tariffs
Despite the tariffs, China remains the US’s third-largest trading partner and the source of its largest bilateral trade deficit in goods.
Mr Trump has threatened but so far withheld punitive tariffs against Chinese exports related to the country’s purchases of Russian oil.
At the same time, regional worries are multiplying over Taiwan and the South China Sea, risky flashpoints that struggle to command as much attention in Washington as the Russia-Ukraine and Gaza wars.
“Heads-of-state diplomacy plays an irreplaceable role in providing strategic guidance for China-U.S. relations,” said spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu.
In an early sign of goodwill prior to the call, China permitted the departure of Wells Fargo banker Chenyue Mao, who had been prevented from returning to the United States for several months.
Reuters
