Trump said he would meet Xi at APEC and likely travel to China next year, and that Xi would travel to the United States ‘at an appropriate time.’
President Donald Trump and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping began talks on Sept. 19 about a deal that would allow China-based ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American buyer. Chinese media reported that the call began around 8:12 p.m. in Beijing, which is 12 hours ahead of Washington.
Trump said on Truth Social that China had approved the sale of TikTok, but he did not share finalized terms of a deal.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 19, 2025
“The call was a very good one, we will be speaking again by phone, appreciate the TikTok approval,” he wrote.
He said the call was “very productive” and spanned several issues, including the Russia–Ukraine war.
“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,” Trump wrote.
He also announced multiple upcoming meetings.
“I also agreed with President Xi that we would meet at the APEC Summit in South Korea, that I would go to China in the early part of next year, and that President Xi would, likewise, come to the United States at an appropriate time.”
A readout of the call published by Chinese state-run media Xinhua said that the position of the Chinese regime is that companies can conduct “commercial negotiations based on market rules and reach solutions that comply with Chinese laws and regulations and balance interests.” It also did not include details of a deal.
At a press briefing, Trump was asked whether he would accept a deal that required Chinese control of the algorithm. He said, “It’s all being worked out, we’re going to have very good control.”
“These are American investors, all of them, and they all love our country,” he said.
Trump had outlined the terms of the deal earlier this week as trade negotiators from the United States and China met in Madrid.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters that, after two days of talks, a framework for a deal had been reached, in large part thanks to Trump calling in to lay out terms.
“President Trump played a role in this. We had a call with him last night. We had specific guidance from him. We shared it with our Chinese counterparts,” Greer said on Sept. 16.
“Without his leadership and the leverage he provides, we would not have been able to conclude the deal today.”
Bessent told reporters on Sept. 15 that the Chinese came with an “aggressive” list of asks, including significant trade and tech concessions. He also said that they were firm on needing to retain “Chinese characteristics” of TikTok in the event of a sale.
“They’re interested in Chinese characteristics of the app, which they think are soft power. We don’t care about Chinese characteristics. We care about national security,” Bessent told reporters.
“We are not willing to sacrifice national security for a social media app.”
Congress last year delivered legislation that would prohibit foreign adversary control of apps in the United States. President Joe Biden signed the legislation in time for the deadline for ByteDance to divest of TikTok at the end of his term.
