US President Trump to speak with China’s President Xi on Friday, says ‘pretty close to a deal’ on TikTok

WASHINGTON, DC: US President Donald Trump has confirmed he will speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday to discuss the future of TikTok, saying that the two sides are “pretty close to a deal” involving the popular social media platform.

“We’re speaking to President Xi on Friday to see if we can finalise something on TikTok, because there is tremendous value, and I hate to give away value, but I like TikTok,” Trump said at a press conference with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, “He acknowledged TikTok’s role in his past campaign, adding, “It helped get me elected. And we did unbelievably well with youth, like at a level that no Republican has ever even dreamt of.”

Trump emphasised the strategic advantage the US holds over the app’s operations. “TikTok has tremendous value. The United States has that value in its hand because we’re the ones that have to approve it. I specifically get the right to approve it,” he said.

“The people that are investing in it are among the greatest investors in the world, the biggest, the richest, and they’ll do a great job. And we’re doing it in conjunction with China,” he added.

Trump also noted that the deal would bring significant financial returns to the US “The United States is getting a tremendous fee-plus, I call it a fee-plus, for just making the deal. And I don’t want to throw that out the window,” he said.

Highlighting the app’s popularity among young voters, Trump warned of the political cost of banning it. “You’ll have a lot of very unhappy youth,” he said. “I use TikTok very legitimately, very straight — just statements. Every day, little statements, short statements. ‘Sir, make it short, please.’ And TikTok Jack, we call him. He was pretty good. Did a good job for me.”

“It’ll be owned by all American investors, and the best investors and very rich people and companies are going to be owning it. Very, very straight, very legitimate countries and companies and really companies that love America,” Trump said.

Describing the scale of the deal, Trump said, “It’s a big thing. And on a much bigger scale, and probably that’s why we were able to get that. But on a much bigger scale, we’re pretty close to a deal.”

He also left open the possibility of extending current terms with China if necessary. “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.” (ANI)