Washington: US President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order approving a deal involving the popular video-sharing app TikTok, paving the way for its transfer to American ownership and control. The president highlighted his September 20 talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, during which the TikTok deal was a key focus.
“This is interesting because I had a very good talk with President Xi, a lot of respect for him. Hopefully, he has a lot of respect for me, too. We talked about TikTok, and he gave us the go-ahead,” he said.
Trump added that the app, which will now be managed by American investors and companies, will tackle key security and safety concerns.
“You know, it’s run by American investors and American companies, great ones, great investors, the biggest. The young people really wanted this to happen,” he added.
He further said that the involvement of major figures like Larry Ellison, the Chief Technology Officer of Oracle, and Oracle would play a key role in ensuring the platform’s security.
“We have American investors taking it over, running it, highly sophisticated, including Larry Ellison and Oracle, I guess, is going to play a very big role in terms of security, safety, and everything else,” Trump explained.
Oracle Corporation is a US-based technology company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Last week, Trump said that Chinese President Xi Jinping had approved the TikTok deal, allowing the video-sharing app to keep operating in the United States.
Speaking with the reporters at the Oval Office, President Trump said, “I had a good call with President Xi. He approved the TikTok deal. We look forward to getting the deal closed. We have to get it signed; it could be a formality. The TikTok deal is on its way, and the investors are getting ready.”
Trump mentioned that the US will have “tight control” over the app, emphasising that this is a “very good deal” for Washington.
Trump and Xi Jinping had a telephonic conversation on September 20, during which they discussed various issues, including the Chinese app TikTok, which faces a threat of being banned after the former US President Joe Biden’s administration passed legislation to force the platform to divest itself of its ownership by the Chinese internet company ByteDance.
Shortly after Trump’s conversation with Xi Jinping, ByteDance issued a statement that the company will advance with the related work that allows TikTok to continue functioning in the US. ByteDance statement on TikTok: We thank President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump for their attention to TikTok.
ByteDance will advance related work in accordance with the requirements of Chinese law, allowing TikTok U.S. to continue serving American users well,” the statement read.
The legislation, which was passed in April 2024, aimed to ban the app from January 19, 2025, but the Trump government has not yet enforced it. The US is eager to strike a deal with China that allows US investors to have more control of TikTok.
“According to The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, which quoted people familiar with the deal, the proposed agreement between Beijing and Washington is set to see a group of American investors control 80 per cent of TikTok, while the remaining 20 per cent will be controlled by Chinese firms, including ByteDance.
(With inputs from ANI)
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