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President Donald Trump says the United States “pretty much” has a deal on the sale of popular short-video app TikTok.
Trump told reporters on Saturday (AEST) that he would start talking to Chinese President Xi Jinping “or one of his representatives” early next week.
When asked how confident he was that China would agree to the deal, he said: “I’m not confident, but I think so.”
“I think the deal is good for China, and it’s good for us” Trump said. “And for us, it’s money … we make a lot of money if the deal goes through.”
The TikTok saga started after bipartisan legislation to ban the app on national security grounds unless it was sold to American buyers was signed early last year under the Biden administration.
What do we know about the potenial buyers?
ByteDance has previously confirmed talks with the US government, saying key matters needed to be resolved and that any deal would be “subject to approval under Chinese law”.
For the deal to comply with US law, ByteDance cannot own more than 20 per cent of TikTok.
Late last month, Trump told Fox News a buyer had been found and could be disclosed in about two weeks.
He didn’t name the potential buyers, but said they are “very wealthy people”.
In May, Trump also mentioned that a group of buyers was prepared to pay “a lot of money” for TikTok.
The previous month he said China would have agreed to a deal on the sale of TikTok if it were not for a dispute over Trump’s tariffs on Beijing.
Several US media outlets reported earlier this year that TikTok’s US technology partner, Oracle, could take over in a deal that would potentially include the app’s American investors.
And there have also been reports that a group called The People’s Bid for TikTok might also be a potential buyer. The group is owned by billionaire Frank McCourt, who is known as the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team.
With reporting by the Reuters and Agence France-Presse news agencies.
