U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer hold a press conference, following a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, on the day of U.S.-China talks on trade, economic and national security issues, in Madrid, Spain, September 15, 2025.
Louiza Vradi | Reuters
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that President Donald Trump was willing to let TikTok go dark, and it was “what turned the tide” in the deal framework with China.
“President Trump made it clear that he would have been willing to let Tiktok go dark, that we were not going to give up national security in favor of the deal,” Bessent told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
TikTok parent company ByteDance is still looking at a Sept. 17 deadline to divest the app’s U.S. operations or potentially be shut down in the country.
The Trump administration hasn’t yet formally extended the deadline, though U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Monday that more time may be needed for the deal to be finalized and signed.
Bessent said Tuesday that the commercial terms of the deal between ByteDance and the new investors had been done “in essence” since March or April.
After Trump’s massive tariff announcement on April 2, the Chinese put the deal on hold, he said.
Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to speak Friday to finalize the deal.
“We were able to reach a series of agreements, mostly for things we will not be doing in the future that have no effect on our national security,” Bessent said Tuesday.
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