WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping made progress on a TikTok agreement and pledged to meet face-to-face in just over a month in South Korea.
The two sides appeared to lower tensions during the first call in three months between the leaders of the two superpowers, but it was not immediately clear if the call had yielded the expected firm agreement over the fate of the popular short-video app.
Trump did say the leaders agreed to talks on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum that starts on October 31 in Gyeongju, South Korea, and for a potential later visit to China by Trump. Reuters previously reported that the two sides were planning such a meeting.
&#8220;We made progress on many very important issues including Trade, Fentanyl, the need to bring the War between Russia and Ukraine to an end, and the approval of the TikTok Deal,&#8221; Trump wrote on social media.
&#8220;The call was a very good one, we will be speaking again by phone, appreciate the TikTok approval, and both look forward to meeting at APEC!&#8221; Trump wrote.
But China&#8217;s statement made no reference to a final agreement.
&#8220;On TikTok, Xi said China&#8217;s position is clear: the Chinese government respects the will of firms and welcomes companies to conduct business negotiations on the basis of market rules to reach a solution consistent with Chinese laws and regulations while balancing interests,&#8221; according to the meeting summary in Xinhua.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom and Xiuhao Chen and Ethan Wang in Beijing; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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Trump Plans To Meet China’s Xi After Progress Made On TikTok And Trade

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President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping&#8217;s progress on a TikTok deal this week could help bolster talks to allow parent ByteDance to divest the U.S. assets of the short video app, experts said.
The move forward, albeit a small one, comes eight months after a legal deadline passed for Chinese ownership of TikTok in the United States to end, and follows lengthy discussions about a sale.
Trump said on Truth Social on Friday that he appreciated &#8220;the approval of the TikTok Deal&#8221; from Xi, after a call between the leaders of the world&#8217;s two biggest economies.
Xi&#8217;s statement did not mention an approval. It said &#8220;the Chinese government respects the will of firms and welcomes companies to conduct business negotiations on the basis of market rules to reach a solution consistent with Chinese laws and regulations while balancing interests,&#8221; according to the meeting summary in Xinhua state media.
China blocked a similar agreement on the app used by 170 million Americans in April during a trade dispute.
&#8220;Readouts from Washington and Beijing suggest the call between Trump and Xi went well, with words like &#8216;positive&#8217; and &#8216;constructive&#8217; being used by both sides to characterize the important bilateral conversation,&#8221; said Wendy Cutler, senior vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute. &#8220;While the leaders apparently blessed the TikTok deal, important details surrounding such matters as who would own and control the algorithm remain unclear.&#8221;
Either way, months of work, at the very least, lie ahead. Trump this week extended the deadline to complete the divestiture to December 19. And lawmakers have raised concerns about reported details on the preliminary framework agreement reached earlier in the week in Madrid.
Congress had ordered the app shut down for U.S. users by January 2025 if its U.S. assets were not sold by Chinese owner ByteDance.
Trump has declined to enforce the law while his administration looks for a new owner, which Democrats say is illegal. He has said he is worried a ban on the app would anger TikTok&#8217;s huge user base and disrupt political communications. He has largely downplayed national security concerns that motivated Congress to demand a Chinese divestiture.
&#8220;I like TikTok; it helped get me elected,&#8221; Trump said during a press conference on Thursday. &#8220;TikTok has tremendous value. The United States has that value in its hand because we&#8217;re the ones that have to approve it.&#8221;
Scott Kennedy, head of the Chinese Business and Economics program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said, &#8220;the contours of the conversation today and over the last few months better align with China&#8217;s interests than U.S. interests.&#8221;
He added, &#8220;we&#8217;re talking about individual business deals. We&#8217;re not talking about Chinese structural reforms.&#8221;
Key questions about the deal remain. The precise ownership structure of the company is unclear, as is the amount of control China will retain, or whether Congress will approve.
The deal would transfer TikTok&#8217;s U.S. assets to U.S. owners from ByteDance, Reuters has reported. Sources familiar with the deal said U.S. TikTok would still make use of ByteDance&#8217;s algorithm.
That arrangement worries lawmakers concerned that Beijing could spy on Americans or conduct influence operations through the app. China has said there is no evidence of a national security threat posed by the app.
(Reporting by Chris Sanders, David Shepardson and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

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Sale Of TikTok’s U.S. Assets May Get Boost After Recent Trump-Xi Call

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the United States and China have a deal that would keep TikTok operating in the United States, transferring its U.S. assets to U.S. owners from China&#8217;s ByteDance, potentially resolving a saga that has lingered for nearly a year.
A deal on the popular social media app, which counts 170 million U.S. users, stands as a breakthrough in months-long talks between the world&#8217;s No. 1 and No. 2 economies that have sought to defuse a wide-ranging trade war that has unnerved global markets.
&#8220;We have a deal on TikTok &#8230; We have a group of very big companies that want to buy it,&#8221; Trump said.
He lauded the trade deal reached with China, calling it an upgrade for both countries, and said it would preserve tens of billions of dollars of value.
&#8220;The kids want it so badly, I have parents calling me up. They don&#8217;t want it for themselves. They want it for their kids,&#8221; Trump said.
Any agreement could require approval by the Republican-controlled Congress, which passed a law in 2024 during the Biden Administration that required divestiture due to fears that TikTok&#8217;s U.S. user data could be accessed by the Chinese government, allowing Beijing to spy on Americans or conduct influence operations through the app.
The Trump administration has repeatedly declined to enforce a law requiring the app to shut down due to worries it would anger users and disrupt political communications, instead extending the divestiture deadline on three separate occasions.
Trump has credited the app with helping him win re-election last year, and his personal account has 15 million followers. The White House launched an official TikTok account last month.
CNBC reported Tuesday that the deal is expected to be closed within the next 30 to 45 days, and that the agreement will include existing investors in TikTok&#8217;s China-based parent ByteDance and new investors.
Reuters has not independently verified CNBC&#8217;s report. However, the details are in line with Reuters&#8217; reporting in April that the deal would spin off TikTok&#8217;s U.S. operations into a new company based in the U.S. and majority-owned and operated by U.S. investors.
Tariffs And TikTok
A deal for TikTok had been in the works in the spring, but was put on hold after China indicated it would not approve it following Trump&#8217;s announcements of steep tariffs on Chinese goods.
Washington has maintained that TikTok&#8217;s ownership by ByteDance makes it beholden to the Chinese government, and Beijing could use the app to collect data on Americans.
The company has said U.S. officials have misstated its ties to China, arguing its content recommendation engine and user data are stored in the U.S. on cloud servers operated by Oracle, while content moderation decisions that affect American users are also made in the U.S.
CNBC also reported on Tuesday that Oracle will keep its cloud deal with TikTok as part of the agreement. Reuters reported earlier this year that the White House was working on a plan to tap Oracle, along with a group of outside investors, to take control of the app&#8217;s operations.
As part of the plan, Oracle would have been responsible for addressing national security issues, Reuters had then reported.
Shares of Oracle pared some gains on Tuesday following the news on TikTok and were last up nearly 3%.
A framework agreement was reached by officials from both countries on Monday, marking a breakthrough after months of intense talks. The White House has been involved to an unprecedented level in the closely watched deal talks.
Amid escalating trade tensions, U.S. and China delegations discussed the divestment as part of broader disputes over tariffs and tech export control regulations.
A final confirmation on the deal is expected on Friday in a call between Trump and President Xi Jinping.
Several suitors, including former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, a startup run by OnlyFans founder, and Amazon, had expressed interest in the fast-growing business that analysts estimate could be worth as much as $50 billion.
(Reporting By Andrea Shalal and Jarrett Renshaw, Deborah Sophia, Jaspreet Singh; Editing by Anil D&#8217;Silva)

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Trump Says U.S. Has A Buyer For TikTok

(Reuters) &#8211; A U.S. appeals court declined on Monday to allow Donald Trump to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook &#8211; the first time a president has pursued such action since the central bank&#8217;s founding in 1913 &#8211; in the latest step in a legal battle that threatens the Fed&#8217;s longstanding independence.
The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit means that the administration only has hours to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court if it hopes to block Cook from attending the Fed&#8217;s policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday where it is expected to cut U.S. interest rates to shore up a cooling labor market.
The White House on Tuesday said it planned to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.
&#8220;The President lawfully removed Lisa Cook for cause. The Administration will appeal this decision and looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue,&#8221; White House spokesman Kush Desai said.
The D.C. Circuit denied the Justice Department&#8217;s request to put on hold a judge&#8217;s order temporarily blocking the Republican president from removing Cook, an appointee of Democratic former President Joe Biden.
U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb had ruled on September 9 that Trump&#8217;s claims that Cook committed mortgage fraud before taking office, which Cook denies, likely were not sufficient grounds for removal under the law that created the Fed.
The decision was 2-1, with Circuit Judges Bradley Garcia and J. Michelle Childs in the majority, both of whom were appointed by President Joe Biden. Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas, a Trump appointee, dissented.
In an opinion joined by Childs, Garcia wrote that Cook is likely to prevail on her claim that she has been denied due process in violation of the U.S. Constitution&#8217;s Fifth Amendment.
&#8220;Before this court, the government does not dispute that it provided Cook no meaningful notice or opportunity to respond to the allegations against her,&#8221; the judge wrote.
A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Fed, which had no comment on the ruling, has not made any legal arguments in the case. It has asked the courts for a swift resolution of the matter, and has said it will abide by any court ruling.
Cook&#8217;s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Separately, the Senate on Monday night narrowly confirmed Trump&#8217;s nominee to a recently vacated seat on the Fed board. The largely party-line 48-47 vote means that it is likely that Stephen Miran, currently chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, will also participate in this week&#8217;s rate-setting meeting alongside Cook.
FOR CAUSE
In setting up the Fed, Congress included provisions to shield the central bank from political interference. Under the law that created the Fed, its governors may be removed by a president only &#8220;for cause,&#8221; though the law does not define the term nor establish procedures for removal. No president has ever removed a Fed governor, and the law has never been tested in court.
In Monday&#8217;s opinion, Garcia wrote that because Cook’s due process claim was &#8220;very likely meritorious&#8221;, there was no need for the court to address the meaning of &#8216;for cause&#8217; at this point in the case.
Cook, the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor, sued Trump and the Fed in late August. Cook has said the claims did not give Trump the legal authority to remove her and were a pretext to fire her for her monetary policy stance.
The Trump administration has argued that the president has broad discretion to determine when it is necessary to remove a Fed governor, and that courts lack the power to review those decisions.
The case has ramifications for the Fed&#8217;s ability to set interest rates without regard to the wishes of politicians, widely seen as critical to any central bank&#8217;s ability to function independently to carry out tasks such as keeping inflation under control.
Trump this year has demanded that the Fed cut rates aggressively, berating Fed Chair Jerome Powell for his stewardship over monetary policy. The Fed, focusing on fighting inflation, has not done so, though it is expected this week to make a cut.
The Supreme Court this year has allowed Trump to proceed with the removal of various officials serving on federal agencies that had been established by Congress as independent from direct presidential control.
But in a May order in a case involving Trump&#8217;s dismissal of two Democratic members of federal labor boards, the Supreme Court signaled that it views the Fed as distinct from other executive branch agencies. It said the Fed &#8220;is a uniquely structured, quasi-private entity&#8221; with a singular historical tradition.
Unlike other members of regulatory boards that the Supreme Court allowed Trump to remove, Cook&#8217;s protection from at-will removal distinguished her case, Garcia wrote in Monday&#8217;s opinion.
The Trump administration in a court filing on Thursday had asked the D.C. Circuit to move quickly so that Trump could remove Cook before the Fed&#8217;s policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. Administration lawyers said that allowing the president to fire Cook would &#8220;strengthen, not diminish, the Federal Reserve’s integrity.&#8221;
Cook&#8217;s lawyers in a filing in response said removing Cook ahead of the meeting would impact U.S. and foreign markets, and that the public interest in keeping her in office outweighed Trump&#8217;s efforts to take control of the Fed.
In his dissenting opinion, Katsas said there was a greater risk of harm to the Trump administration than there was to Cook in leaving her in her job while the appeal played out.
&#8220;Moreover, the Board of Governors no doubt is important, but that only heightens the government’s interest in ensuring that its Governors are competent and capable of projecting confidence into markets,&#8221; Katsas wrote.
In blocking Cook&#8217;s removal, Cobb had found that the &#8220;best reading&#8221; of the 1913 law is that it only allows a Fed governor to be removed for misconduct while in office. The mortgage fraud claims against Cook all relate to actions she took prior to her U.S. Senate confirmation in 2022.
Trump and his appointee William Pulte, the Federal Housing Finance Agency director, have claimed that Cook inaccurately described three separate properties on mortgage applications, which could have allowed her to obtain lower interest rates and tax credits.
A loan estimate for an Atlanta home purchased by Cook shows that she had declared the property as a &#8220;vacation home,&#8221; according to a document reviewed by Reuters, information that would appear to undercut the allegations against her. And the property tax authority in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said in response to a Reuters inquiry that Cook has not broken rules for tax breaks on a home there that Cook had declared her primary residence.
The finding, which came in response to a Reuters request that the city review Cook’s property records, could boost Cook’s defense against efforts by the Trump administration to remove her from the Federal Reserve board.
Trump&#8217;s Justice Department also has launched a criminal mortgage fraud probe into Cook, and has issued grand jury subpoenas out of both Georgia and Michigan, according to documents seen by Reuters and a source familiar with the matter.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Jan Wolfe in Washington, DC, Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware and Ann Saphir; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, Will Dunham and Shri Navaratnam)
&nbsp;

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Appeals Court Protects Biden-Appointed Fed Governor Lisa Cook From Trump Ouster

MADRID (Reuters) &#8211; The United States and China have reached a framework agreement to switch short-video app TikTok to U.S.-controlled ownership, top U.S. officials said on Monday, with President Donald Trump set to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced the agreement after a meeting between senior U.S. and Chinese officials in Madrid, but declined to give any of the commercial terms of the agreement.
Bessent told reporters that further details would wait to be determined in a call on Friday between Trump and Xi.
Trump said on Monday that trade talks with China had gone very well and hinted that a deal had been reached to resolve issues the U.S. has over TikTok ownership.
&#8220;The big Trade Meeting in Europe between The United States of America, and China, has gone VERY WELL! It will be concluding shortly,&#8221; Trump wrote on his TruthSocial platform.
&#8220;A deal was also reached on a “certain” company that young people in our Country very much wanted to save. They will be very happy! I will be speaking to President Xi on Friday. The relationship remains a very strong one!!!&#8221;
Earlier on Monday a U.S. official with knowledge of the negotiations had said that the U.S. would press ahead with a ban on TikTok if China didn&#8217;t drop its demands for reduced tariffs and technological restrictions as part of a divestiture deal.
U.S. and China delegations met to discuss the divestment from TikTok by Chinese owner Bytedance as part of a round of broader talks on tariffs and economic policy taking place in Madrid. TikTok faces being shut down as early as September 17 in the U.S. unless it moves to U.S. ownership.
Speaking to reporters earlier, Bessent and Greer said China wanted concessions on trade and technology in exchange for agreeing to divest from the popular social media app.
&#8220;Our Chinese counterparts have come with a very aggressive ask,&#8221; Bessent said, adding: &#8220;We are not willing to sacrifice national security for a social media app.&#8221;
POOR TIMING
The U.S.-China negotiations at the Spanish foreign ministry&#8217;s baroque Palacio de Santa Cruz, which began on Sunday, were the fourth round of talks in four months to address strained trade ties and a looming divestiture deadline for TikTok.
They took place as Washington demands that its allies place tariffs on imports from China over Chinese purchases of Russian oil, which Beijing on Monday said was an attempt at coercion.
Beijing separately announced on Monday that a preliminary investigation of Nvidia had found the U.S. chip giant had violated its anti-monopoly law. Bessent said the announcement on Nvidia was poor timing.
The probe is widely seen as a retaliatory shot against Washington&#8217;s curbs on the Chinese chip sector.
(Reporting by David Lawder, Pietro Lombardi and Ethan Wang,; Additional reporting by Brendan O&#8217;Brien and Doina Chiacu in Washington; Writing by Charlie Devereux; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Clarence Fernandez and Susan Fenton)

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Trump, Xi To Speak Friday After U.S.–China Reach Framework On TikTok

(Reuters) &#8211; A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from removing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, an early setback for the White House in an unprecedented legal battle that could upend the central bank&#8217;s long-held independence.
The preliminary ruling by U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb in Washington, D.C. found that the Trump administration&#8217;s claims that Cook committed mortgage fraud prior to taking office were likely not sufficient grounds for her removal.
Cook denies any wrongdoing.
&#8220;President Trump has not identified anything related to Cook’s conduct or job performance as a Board member that would indicate that she is harming the Board or the public interest by executing her duties unfaithfully or ineffectively,&#8221; Cobb wrote in her ruling.
Trump moved to fire Cook in late August, but the Fed has said she remains in her position. The Fed declined to comment on the decision.
The White House spokesman Kush Desai on Wednesday defended Trump&#8217;s actions, saying that the president had &#8220;lawfully removed&#8221; Cook for cause over the mortgage allegations and that &#8220;this ruling will not be the last say on the matter.&#8221;
Trump on Tuesday did not respond to a reporter&#8217;s question about the ruling.
Cobb&#8217;s ruling prevents the Fed from following through on Cook&#8217;s firing while her lawsuit moves forward.
The case, which will likely end up before the U.S. Supreme Court, has ramifications for the Fed&#8217;s ability to set interest rates without regard to politicians&#8217; wishes, widely seen as critical to any central bank&#8217;s ability to keep inflation under control.
Trump has demanded that the U.S. central bank cut rates immediately and aggressively, berating Fed Chair Jerome Powell for his stewardship over monetary policy. The central bank is expected to deliver a rate cut at its September 16-17 policy meeting.
&#8220;This ruling recognizes and reaffirms the importance of safeguarding the independence of the Federal Reserve from illegal political interference,&#8221; Cook&#8217;s lawyer Abbe Lowell said in a statement.
The law that created the Fed says governors may be removed only &#8220;for cause,&#8221; but does not define the term nor establish procedures for removal. No president has ever removed a Fed governor, and the law has never been tested in court.
Cobb found that the &#8220;best reading&#8221; of the law is that it only allows a Fed governor to be removed for misconduct while in office. The mortgage fraud claims against Cook all relate to actions she took prior to her U.S. Senate confirmation in 2022.
Trump and William Pulte, the Federal Housing and Finance Authority director appointed by the president, say Cook inaccurately described three separate properties on mortgage applications, which could have allowed her to obtain lower interest rates and tax credits.
The U.S. Justice Department has also launched a criminal mortgage fraud probe into Cook and has issued grand jury subpoenas out of both Georgia and Michigan, according to documents seen by Reuters and a source familiar with the matter.
Cook sued Trump and the Fed, saying the claims did not give Trump the legal authority to remove her and were a pretext to fire her for her monetary policy stance.
Cook, the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor, has denied the fraud claims in court filings, saying that she &#8220;did not ever commit mortgage fraud.&#8221;
But she has said that even if the allegations were true, it would not be grounds for removal because the alleged conduct occurred before she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
The Trump administration has argued that the president has broad discretion to determine when it is necessary to remove a Fed governor, and that courts lack the power to review those decisions.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York and Ismail Shakil. Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal, Howard Schneider, Mike Scarcella, Nate Raymond and Jeff Mason; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Alexia Garamfalvi, Paul Simao, Sam Holmes and Tomasz Janowski)

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Judge Steps In To Block Trump From Ousting Fed Governor Lisa Cook

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