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Remember That TikTok Ban? This Week’s Deadline Brings Talk of a Deal

The Trump administration waxes optimistic once again about getting to a long-delayed resolution for TikTok in the US.

The Trump administration is working on a deal with China to determine TikTok’s fate, which could be finalized by the end of this week, according to reports citing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that US and Chinese teams this week discussed a plan in which TikTok’s US operations would be controlled by an investor consortium that includes software giant Oracle. US users would move to a new app that TikTok is testing and that would recreate content-recommendation algorithms for the app. The Journal noted that details of the deal have yet to be finalized and could be subject to change.

President Trump has plans to talk on Friday with China’s President Xi Jinping about the fate of the Chinese-owned social media platform, reports said. Bessent said Monday that the two countries have reached a preliminary deal and “commercial terms have been agreed upon.”

The key question is whether ownership of TikTok will transfer to a US-based company. The platform could shut down temporarily in the US, as it has before, in accordance with a federal law passed last year in response to national security and privacy considerations. That law requires TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the social media service to a US-based company or essentially be off limits in the US. The initial deadline, set for January, has already been extended three times as Trump has teased progress on the matter.

Neither TikTok nor the Treasury Department responded to requests for comment.

An agreement over TikTok has been complicated by ongoing trade warring between the US and China and a new ruling against US-based Nvidia. China claims Nvidia has violated anti-monopoly laws in that country. 

Skepticism about a TikTok deal

Even with the administration’s suggestion that a deal is imminent, it’s possible that TikTok’s future could remain in limbo even longer.

“I have seen the TikTok negotiations stall and shift so many times that I am not holding my breath on a deal being completed this week,” said Star Kashman, founder of Cyber Law Firm, who’s been following the TikTok saga. “Every time we hear about progress or a framework getting reached, some external complication throws the whole negotiation back into limbo.”

Tariffs and the Nvidia claims have further complicated what was already a complex negotiation over TikTok, she said. “It is likely that too much is already at play, including ByteDance’s potential obligations to the Chinese government, national security concerns, and privacy issues, as well as the desire to keep TikTok’s addictive algorithm, without isolating and segregating US users.”

Kashman said that none of the parties have been transparent about what would happen to TikTok under US ownership, including addressing reports that a US-only TIkTok app would be offered. 

Negotiation factors

If a deal is reached to keep TikTok available in the US, it could be just the start of wrangling over the platform’s future, said one expert on US-China relations.

“The Chinese generally look at the signing of a deal as the beginning of negotiations, not the end,” said Usha Haley, Barton Distinguished Chair in International Business at Wichita State University. “So the devil will be in the details as they unfold over several years.”

Haley said that any deal would be subject to congressional scrutiny and could set a precedent for how future foreign-based apps operate in the US.

The Trump administration would likely insist on US-based storage of TikTok data, independent oversight and insulation from Chinese legal and political demands, while China’s government would want to protect its tech champion and maintain cultural influence, she said.

Whatever requirements the US imposes, Haley said, China might still find a way to maintain some control over TikTok by “keeping some possibly secret doors and trapdoors open for intervention in the future, if needed.”

Technologies

Anthropic warns investors of AI’s ‘existential risk to humanity’ in IPO prospectus, reports say

Anthropic’s IPO filing dedicates 80 pages to the risks of AI, nearly double the 48 pages it spends discussing its business plans, according to Reuters.

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Technologies

U.S., Iran hold separate mediator talks as Mideast oil exports hit war-time high

Iranian and U.S. officials reportedly met separately with mediators Monday to push for a ceasefire, as Middle Eastern crude exports rebounded to war-time high.

Iranian and U.S. officials reportedly met separately with mediators Monday to push for a ceasefire.

Middle Eastern crude exports rebounded this month to around their highest level since the war began in February.

An outright export ban by Washington on diesel would keep roughly 1.2 million barrels a day at home, and risks overwhelming Gulf Coast storage, according to Kpler.

The building of the destroyed Shajareh Tayebeh primary school is pictured surrounded by rubble in Minab in Iran’s Hormozgan province on August 10, 2026. Six months on, a team of AFP journalists obtained rare access to the school which has remained largely in ruins, its collapsed walls and twisted steel now surrounded by portraits of the children killed as Iranian flags flutter above the rubble. Iran says the attack on the school involved two separate US Tomahawk missiles but neither the United States nor Israel has officially claimed responsibility for the strike. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP via Getty Images) /

Atta Kenare | Afp | Getty Images

U.S. and Iranian officials have reportedly held separate indirect talks with mediators on Monday, reviving efforts to end seven months of war as Tehran presses for a response to a revised ceasefire framework and Middle East crude exports climb to their highest level since the conflict began.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met Qatari mediators in New York, where he remained after the United Nations General Assembly, and reportedly said he expects Washington’s reply by Tuesday. “We talked about ideas and how to find solutions to fulfil Iran’s conditions,” Araghchi said, adding that he planned to return to Tehran once a response arrives. “Whenever the Qataris have a response, they know how to get it to us.”

Iran’s proposal, first presented on the sidelines of last week’s General Assembly, calls for a four- to five-day U.S. timeline to release frozen Iranian funds, lift sanctions on Iranian oil and end the naval blockade of Iranian ports, with nuclear talks beginning within seven days. Tehran has tied any reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to those steps.

President Donald Trump had on Sunday called the plan “unacceptable” and rejected it, telling reporters Iran wants a swift deal because of the economic pressure it is under. Speaking at the White House Monday, Trump said U.S. officials had spoken separately with mediators but gave no further details, adding: “We’re going to win. It’s going to go pretty quickly.”

The diplomatic push comes as physical supply data shows the war’s toll on the oil market easing. Middle Eastern crude exports rebounded this month to around their highest level since the war began in February, Kpler data showed. “Middle East crude exports at just under 80% of pre-conflict levels,” the tracking firm said in a note on Monday.

The Strait of Hormuz itself remains far from normal. Kpler’s real-time tracking showed total clearance through the strait at 10,591 kilobarrels a day on Saturday, against a pre-war baseline of 17,133.

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Technologies

Oil prices fall as crude exports recover at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea ports

Saudi Arabia has restored flows through the pipeline to around 3.5 million barrels per day, according to media reports.

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