Trump, Xi to speak Friday on framework to keep app running here amid new security laws.

The U.S. and China have reached a framework deal to keep TikTok running in the U.S. Damian Dovarganes - The Associated Press

By DANIEL FLATLEY, OLIVIA TAM AND DANIEL BASTEIRO | BLOOMBERG

President Donald Trump said he would speak with Chinese leader Xi Jin ping on Friday as U.S. and Chinese officials reached a framework deal on keeping the TikTok app running in the U.S.

It would be the first direct engagement between Trump and Xi since June.

"I will be speaking to President Xi on Friday. The relationship remains a very strong one!!!," Trump said in a post on social media Monday. Referring to a meeting of top officials between the two nations in Madrid, Trump also said that the session "has gone VERY WELL!"

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who led the talks in Spain, told reporters that a framework to keep ByteDance Ltd.'s TikTok app running in the U.S. had been reached. China's Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang also told reporters in Madrid that a framework of "consensus" had been reached on TikTok, while cautioning that Beijing won't sacrifice principles for a deal.

The terms of the blueprint, and whether they would satisfy the requirements of a U.S. national security law that took effect in January, remain unclear. But a U.S. official emphasized that some arrangement was crucial in order for Trump and Xi to have their first in-person tete-a-tete later this year.

Had there been no deal on TikTok, a Trump-Xi meeting on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation gathering in South Korea late next month would have been off the table, the official said. A Trump state visit to China would also have been off the table, the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue.

The Madrid talks came ahead of a looming deadline later this week to secure a deal that would divest TikTok'sAmerican operations to complywith a U.S. national security law. Trump has already extended the deadline more than once to keep the popular app, which he credits with boosting his appeal among younger voters in the last election, running.

A solution involving Oracle Corp., among other U.S. investors, has been floated in the past. Oracle and TikTok have worked together on a plan called Project Texas aimed at separating and securing TikTok's U.S. user data from Byte Dance's operations in China. Oracle was also the leading contender to acquire part of TikTok's business in 2020 when Trump tried, but failed, to ban the app over national security concerns during his first term.

"President Trump and party Chair Xi will speak on Friday to complete the deal, but we do have a framework for the deal with TikTok," Bessent said. "I think the framework is for it to switch to U.S.-controlled ownership."

Wang Jingtao, a deputy director of China's Cyberspace Administration, referred to methods such as the entrusted operation of TikTok's U.S. user data, and mentioned algorithms and intellectual property rights, without getting into specifics.

The Chinese government will, according to the law, examine and approve relevant matters involving TikTok such as the export of technology and the licenses used in IP, Wang said.

Chinese representatives also raised concerns about U.S. sanctions and urged Washington to lift restrictions as soon as possible during the meeting, Vice Minister Li said.