US President Donald Trump has said that he and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping approved a deal on the future of TikTok's US operations during a phone call on Friday, although there was no confirmation from Beijing.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that the call was productive and he appreciated Xi's approval of the deal, which would reportedly see TikTok's US business sold to a group of US investors.
China's official state news agency Xinhua left the outcome of their discussion less clear, with Xi quoted as saying that Beijing welcomes negotiations over TikTok.
TikTok, which is run by Chinese firm ByteDance, was previously told it had to sell its US operations or risk being shut down.
Trump, however, delayed implementing the ban four times since it was first announced in January, and earlier this week extended the deadline again to December.
In his post, Trump wrote the two had made progress on trade issues and would meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit, scheduled to begin at the end of October in South Korea, and said he would travel to China.
Trump told reporters that a deal still had to be signed, and signaled there could be a formal process to do so soon.
The deal would reportedly see a group of US firms - including Oracle - that would enable TikTok to continue operating in the US, using algorithm technology licensed from ByteDance.
A sticking point appears to be who will own the algorithm that pushes content to TikTok's 170 million American users.
Concerns persist around ByteDance's ties to the Chinese government, with some U.S. lawmakers voicing hesitation about a deal that might involve continued influence from the Chinese Communist Party. Trump, however, has changed his initial stance against TikTok, now viewing it as valuable for his 2024 electoral campaign.
The discussions between Trump and Xi come amid a broader context of U.S.-China relations, which have seen multiple rounds of talks addressing various tensions between the two nations.
