A highly anticipated call between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping took place Friday morning. The two had a wide-ranging conversation and announced plans for a series of in-person meetings in the coming months. They also made progress on the fate of TikTok, with Trump announcing “approval” of a deal to spin off the app.
Trump said in a social media post Friday that he would meet with Xi in person at a summit in South Korea later this fall and that he will “go to China in the early part of next year.”
The first meeting will be at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea, scheduled for Oct. 30-Nov. 1.
He added that Xi will reciprocate with a US visit “at an appropriate time.”
On the wide array of issues on the table, the summaries from both sides offer a different tone around what was agreed to. The dynamic was in evidence on the apparent TikTok deal.
President Trump gestures during a joint press conference with Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday. (Leon Neal/Pool/AFP via Getty Images) ·LEON NEAL via Getty Images
The summary of the meeting in Chinese state media did not provide a detailed update on the social media app beyond saying that President Xi supported a commercial solution to the problem and that he wanted a set of rules that would allow Chinese companies to invest in the US.
Trump has pushed for a spin-off of the app with “all American investors” and wrote Friday, “appreciate the TikTok approval,” without providing further details.
Late Friday afternoon, Trump added that approval might not be totally finalized saying the TikTok deal is “well on its way” and “we look forward to getting that deal closed.”
ByteDance, the China-based parent company of TikTok, responded to the meeting by thanking both presidents in a statement and adding, “ByteDance will work in accordance with applicable laws to ensure TikTok remains available to American users through TikTok U.S.”
On trade, Trump touted “progress on many very important issues including Trade.” Chinese state media, according to a translation, described the call as pragmatic and constructive but signaled that trade tensions clearly remain in evidence.
The immediate message from China was that the US should avoid new restrictive trade measures to avoid “undermining” recent trade talks.
In his post, Trump also offered that progress had been made on illegal drugs and the need to bring the war in Ukraine to an end.
The call began at 8 a.m. ET, according to a White House official.
Before the call, the president raised expectations by describing a deal over TikTok as all but completed and saying that he is looking to make progress on broader issues like tariffs.
The president spoke about negotiations around the social media app during an appearance in the UK in the past tense — even as some issues remain publicly unresolved. “My relationship with China is very good,” he added later Thursday in a Fox News interview. “And it sounds like they have approved TikTok.”
The president then added that he is also looking to discuss an array of issues with his Chinese counterpart, from Russian oil purchases to tariffs, saying, “We’re very close to deals on all of it.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping is seen during a bilateral meeting in Beijing earlier this month. (Lintao Zhang/Pool/AFP via Getty Images) ·LINTAO ZHANG via Getty Images
It recently said, among other things, that there was a “consensus reached by both parties, for the continued operation of Chinese enterprises, including TikTok, in the United States.”
The core question surrounds how the Chinese-controlled algorithm that has long powered TikTok will continue to be used if the app is spun off into a separate US-led company.
Reports of the deal have suggested that a consortium led by tech giant Oracle (ORCL), venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and private equity firm Silver Lake Management will spearhead the attempt to keep TikTok operational in the US.
Trump sounded confident on Thursday, adding that he expected to address a range of other issues on Friday and that a partial tariff detente could be extended.
“We may do an extension with China, but it’s an extension based on the same terms that we have right now, which are pretty good terms,” he said.
Current duties between the two nations are 30% on Chinese imports and 10% on US goods. Sector-specific tariffs on goods like steel and some medical supplies are currently pushing the effective tariff rate between the two countries higher.
If a current 90-day pause is allowed to expire in early November, it could mean a return to triple-digit tariffs that were briefly in place at the beginning of Trump’s term.
This post has been updated with additional developments.
Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
