U.S. President Donald Trump hailed on Friday (September 19, 2025) what he called progress with Chinese President Xi Jinping, including on selling app TikTok and said he would visit the Asian power, which offered a more cautious assessment of their talks.
The leaders of the world’s two largest economies spoke by telephone for the second time since the return to the White House of Trump, who has tried to keep a lid on tensions despite his once virulent criticism of China.
Mr. Trump told reporters ahead of the call that he hoped it would finalise a deal to take TikTok out of Chinese hands, the social media hugely popular with young Americans that the Republican mogul has turned to himself to garner support.
Neither side reported a final agreement but Mr. Trump said the call was “very productive.”
“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,” Mr. Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
He said he would meet Mr. Xi on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in South Korea starting at the end of next month and that he would travel to China next year.
Mr. Trump said Mr. Xi would also visit the United States at an unspecified time and that the two leaders would speak again by telephone.
Chinese warning on ‘market rules’
China offered a sterner take on the talks.
“On the TikTok issue, Xi noted that China’s position is clear: the Chinese government respects the will of enterprises and welcomes them to conduct business negotiations based on market rules, to reach solutions that balance interests and comply with Chinese laws and regulations,” state broadcaster CCTV said.
“China hopes the U.S. side will provide an open, fair, and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies investing in the United States.”
It described the call as “frank and in-depth.”
The U.S. Congress last year, during Joe Biden’s presidency, passed a law to force TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to sell its U.S. operations for national security reasons or face the ban of the app.
U.S. policymakers, including in Trump’s first term, have warned that China could use TikTok to mine data from Americans or exert influence on what they see on social media.
But Mr. Trump, an avid social media user, on Tuesday once again put off a ban of the app, which he has credited as a factor helping him win the 2024 election.
Mr. Trump told reporters on Thursday that under an upcoming deal TikTok’s US business would be “owned by all American investors, and very rich people and companies.”
The Wall Street Journal raised the possibility of a consortium to control TikTok that would include tech giant Oracle and two California investment funds — Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz.
Oracle owner Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people, is a supporter of Mr. Trump, meaning TikTok would be the latest media or social media app to come under the control or influence of the president.
Tariff truce
Mr. Trump, while on the campaign trail, bashed China relentlessly as an enemy, but since returning to office, has spoken of his strong relationship with Mr. Xi.
Both sides dramatically hiked tariffs against each other during a months-long dispute earlier this year, disrupting global supply chains.
Washington and Beijing then reached a deal to reduce levies, which expires in November, with the United States imposing 30 percent duties on imports of Chinese goods and China hitting U.S. products with a 10 percent tariff.
The phone meeting comes after Xi organized a major summit this month with the leaders of Russia and India — and invited North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to observe a major military parade in Beijing to mark the end of World War II.
Mr. Trump accused China and Russia of conspiring against the United States.
Mr. Xi in the Chinese social media readout voiced appreciation for the U.S. role in World War II.
Published – September 19, 2025 06:27 pm IST
