On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that lets TikTok keep running in the U.S. as long as it meets national security standards.
The details of the accord were not made public right away.
A previous White House executive order put a stop to federal implementation of the divest-or-ban statute until December 16, 2025, so negotiators had time to work out the details.
Sept. 15, 2025, President Trump said that U.S.–China trade talks “went very well” and hinted at progress on a deal addressing TikTok’s ownership, a high-profile issue in the broader negotiations. Trump added he plans to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday, according to a post on Truth Social.
In 2024, Congress passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. This law required ByteDance to sell off TikTok’s U.S. operations or face a statewide ban. The Supreme Court upheld the statute on January 17, 2025, making it possible to enforce it without a qualified divestment.
A little bit of history on talks between the U.S. and China: Since 2020, Washington has been trying to get TikTok’s U.S. company into American hands. Beijing’s export-control restrictions got in the way of that attempt. These rules put recommendation algorithms on China’s restricted list, which means that any transfer of fundamental technology might need Chinese clearance.
What comes next? The order shows that the U.S. agrees in principle. Any final deal must still pass national security checks and, if necessary, China’s licensing process for technology exports. The divest-or-ban law won’t be enforced until a settlement is reached, which won’t happen until mid-December.
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