President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping failed to come to a final agreement on TikTok during a call Friday, but the two made significant progress toward a deal, a White House official told CNBC’s Eamon Javers.
The official’s remarks on the much-anticipated call came after Trump and China’s state media issued dueling readouts of their conversation that left the status of a deal on the popular video app unclear.
“I just completed a very productive call with President Xi of China. 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,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post late Friday morning.
Trump also announced that he and Xi agreed to meet during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum’s upcoming summit in South Korea.
Trump added that he agreed to “go to China in the early part of next year,” and that Xi “would, likewise, come to the United States at an appropriate time.”
“The call was a very good one, we will be speaking again by phone, appreciate the TikTok approval, and both look forward to meeting at APEC!” he wrote.
A translated readout from Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua, meanwhile, appeared to show daylight between the two sides on TikTok.
“China’s position on the TikTok issue is clear: the Chinese government respects the will of companies and is pleased to see companies conduct business negotiations on the basis of market rules and reach solutions that comply with Chinese laws and regulations and balance interests,” the statement read.
“We hope the U.S. side will provide an open, fair, and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies investing in the United States.”
“The U.S. side hopes to promote bilateral economic and trade cooperation, will support consultations between the two teams, and properly resolve the TikTok issue,” the statement from Xinhua said.
Trump and his administration had signaled earlier in the week that a deal was all but clinched.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Dan Kitwoodnicholas Kamm | Afp | Getty Images
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday that negotiators for the two countries had agreed on a “framework” for TikTok, which is under threat of being banned in the U.S.
Trump on Tuesday had even stated, “We have a deal on TikTok,” adding that his call with Xi was merely “to confirm everything up.”
ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, has faced an ultimatum under a federal law requiring it to either divest the platform’s American business or be shut down in the U.S.
But Trump, a fan of TikTok who credited it with helping him win the 2024 presidential election, has repeatedly extended the deadline. On Tuesday, he signed an executive order delaying it until Dec. 16.
During a state visit to the U.K. on Thursday, Trump said he was eager to keep TikTok alive in the U.S.
“We’re speaking to President Xi on Friday to see if we can finalize something on Tiktok because there is tremendous value, and I hate to give away value, but I like Tiktok,” Trump said at Chequers, the British prime minister’s weekend residence in Aylesbury, England.
Lawmakers of both parties had backed the TikTok legislation, which aimed to protect Americans from social media apps being used for surveillance or manipulation purposes by foreign adversaries.
Former President Joe Biden signed the bill into law in April 2024, with ByteDance initially facing a Jan. 19 deadline to divest or face a U.S. ban.
But Trump extended that deadline on his first day in office, and he has done so three more times since then.
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