China has approved TikTok’s US transfer agreement, US Treasury Secretary confirms.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday that China has approved the transfer agreement for TikTok’s US operations. He added that the deal is expected to move forward in the “coming weeks and months”.
“In Kuala Lumpur, we finalised the TikTok agreement in terms of getting Chinese approval, and I would expect that would go forward in the coming weeks and months, and we’ll finally see a resolution to that,” Bessent told Fox Business Network’s Mornings with Maria.
China’s Commerce Ministry also confirmed in a statement that it would “properly handle issues related to TikTok” with the US side.
The app is owned by China-based ByteDance and is used by about 170 million Americans. In 2024, the US Congress passed a law ordering ByteDance to sell its US TikTok assets by January 2025.
On September 25, President Donald Trump signed an executive order saying a sale to US and global investors met national-security needs and gave ByteDance 120 days to finish the transaction.
Under the agreement, ByteDance will hold less than 20 % of the US TikTok operations. A new board will have seven members, six of whom are Americans, one will be appointed by ByteDance. The US company will retrain, monitor and control the app’s algorithm through its security partners.
This deal goes beyond TikTok. It signals a potential thaw in U.S.–China trade and tech tensions. With Beijing agreeing to transfer the US business of such a major platform, it opens the door to deeper cooperation—and sets a precedent for how China treats export control, technology licensing and foreign investment in its regulatory framework.
Observers will now watch if this paves the way for more deals in semiconductors, artificial intelligence and data governance between the two countries.
The detailed terms of the agreement have not been disclosed. Bessent declined to provide more specifics. It’s unclear which US and international investors will take the controlling stake.
Whether ByteDance will retain any meaningful influence via IP or algorithm licensing remains a concern for lawmakers. For example, Representative John Moolenaar warned that a licensing agreement for TikTok’s algorithm would raise “serious concerns.”
