Bessent Says Trump’s Threat of TikTok Shutdown Delivered Deal

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the threat of allowing the social media app TikTok to go dark in the US was what ultimately sealed a framework deal in Madrid that would see the American iteration of the platform enter US hands — severing connections with its Chinese parent company ByteDance.

Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer met with their Chinese counterparts in Spain for several hours of negotiations to finalize the transfer of the app. Talks appeared to falter midday Monday, when the US side considered a list of what it described as “aggressive asks” by the Chinese.