Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
The highly anticipated meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea was expected to deliver a definitive agreement for the sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations to an American consortium of investors, led by Oracle. However, the outcome was one of political ambiguity, with no written confirmation or final documents signed regarding the deal.
A Stalemate on Paper
While U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed that China had verbally approved the terms of the sale, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce countered by stating that there were “still problems to be resolved.” This disagreement underscores a critical point of friction: while President Trump had signed an executive order approving the sale, the final approval from Beijing is still pending.
The Chinese government’s main reservation centers on the licensing of TikTok’s proprietary suggestion algorithm, which is viewed as a national asset and is subject to Chinese artificial intelligence export laws.
The executive order set a tight deadline of 120 days (until January 20, 2026) for the transaction to be completed, a timeline that now appears tenuous given the lack of final written agreement.
Other Trade Outcomes
Although the TikTok deal remained in a state of geopolitical gridlock, the meeting did produce agreements on other key trade issues:
- Tariffs: The U.S. agreed to reduce tariffs on Chinese imports, specifically dropping the levy on fentanyl from 20% to 10%, and on other imports from 57% to 47%.
- Imports: China committed to suspending restrictions on the export of rare earth elements for one year and resuming the purchase of soybeans from the United States.
- NVIDIA GPUs: Regarding the sale of NVIDIA GPUs, which China had previously ordered to stop, President Trump stated only that the Californian company must now “discuss with the Chinese government” to resolve the issue.
In summary, the high-stakes meeting failed to resolve the sale of TikTok, confirming that the fate of the immensely popular social media platform remains tied to complex geopolitical negotiations and is far from settled.
