Trump extends TikTok ban deadline to Dec. 16 with final deal near

Trump's granting of another lifeline for TikTok came as his administration and Beijing appear to be in the final phase of agreeing to transfer the popular video-sharing app's U.S. assets from its Chinese owner ByteDance Ltd. to American owners.

The previous extension, the third, was set to expire Wednesday. Following two days of talks in Madrid, senior U.S. and Chinese officials said Monday that the two countries have agreed on a "framework" to keep the app alive for some 170 million American users.

Trump is scheduled to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday.

The U.S. president said Tuesday morning that a deal has already been reached, as "we have a group of very big companies that want to buy it."

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who participated in the negotiations in the Spanish capital, said in a CNBC interview that Trump and Xi "will agree on a final deal" during the forthcoming phone call.

The precise structure of TikTok's divestiture remains unclear. But some major U.S. media outlets have reported that the app's U.S. business is expected to be controlled by a consortium of investors, including technology giant Oracle Corp.

TikTok's federal ban, which gained bipartisan support in Congress, was supposed to take effect in January after Trump's predecessor Joe Biden signed it into law in April 2024.

The U.S. government and lawmakers claim TikTok is a national security concern, although ByteDance has repeatedly denied that it has ever allowed Chinese authorities to access user information.

Efforts by the United States and China to settle the issue have been seen as part of the process to lay the groundwork for Trump's first in-person meeting with Xi since the U.S. president returned to the White House in January.

The two countries are exploring the meeting during or around the time Trump travels to South Korea for this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, slated for two days beginning Oct. 31.