US and China reach deal to transfer TikTok ownership, trade officials say
Jamieson Greer, a US trade representative, said on Monday that Washington and Beijing have struck a framework agreement on transferring TikTok to US-controlled ownership.Speaking after emerging from negotiations with Chinese officials, Scott Bessent said the deal was coming but declined to reveal the commercial terms.“We have a framework for a TikTok deal,” the treasury secretary told reporters after coming out of high-level talks in Madrid.“We’re not going to talk about the commercial terms of the deal.It’s between two private parties, but the commercial terms have been agreed upon.
” Bessent added that the Chinese team had made “aggressive asks” during negotiations, but did not explain what they were.Li Chenggang, the top Chinese trade negotiator, confirmed later on Monday that two sides had reached a basic framework consensus on resolving issues related to TikTok through cooperation, reducing investment barriers and promoting trade.Li said friction between the two economic giants was normal, but warned Washington against continued “suppression” of Chinese companies.“We would like to stress that the outcomes of the trade and economic consultations are hard won, and the US side should not, on the one hand, ask China to accommodate its concerns, whilst at the same time continue to suppress Chinese companies,” Li said in Madrid.The framework agreement is a breakthrough in the long-running dispute over TikTok’s ownership, which has raised national security concerns in Washington over the app’s Chinese parent company ByteDance.
In April 2024, Joe Biden signed legislation that gave ByteDance nine months to sell the platform to a US-approved buyer or face a total ban – a deadline that Donald Trump has repeatedly extended.The US is estimated to have over 135 million active users on the platform, including the White House, which launched its own official account in August, despite the fact that government devices themselves are still prohibited from using the app under federal law.TikTok briefly went dark in January when the ban took effect, displaying messages that the app was unavailable under US law.Trump reversed the shutdown within hours of taking office, signing an executive order to delay enforcement for 75 days before extending the deadline again and again.Apple and Google had removed TikTok from their app stores during the brief blackout but restored access after government assurances they would face no penalties.
Washington’s security concerns center on fears that Beijing could manipulate the massively popular platform to spy on Americans or influence public opinion.Christopher Wray, the former FBI director, warned senators that China’s national security laws could compel ByteDance to hand over user data or suppress content, and the Department of Justice last year said TikTok had gathered the sensitive data of American users based off gun control, abortion and religion through its use of Lark, a workplace communication platform similar to Slack or Microsoft Teams, according to court documents.Security experts have long pointed to three main areas of concern: Chinese influence campaigns, mass data collection on US citizens, and potential vulnerabilities that could compromise users’ devices.The TikTok ownership saga stretches back to 2020, when Trump first ordered ByteDance to divest TikTok or face a shutdown.Microsoft initially pursued a potential acquisition worth billions of dollars, with CEO Satya Nadella engaging directly with Trump, but it fell apart in what Nadella dubbed at the time “the strangest deal” he has ever worked on.
Soon after, Walmart and Oracle came close to buying TikTok’s US arm, proposing a joint acquisition of a new entity called TikTok Global, but it was shelved indefinitely after the Biden administration conducted its own review of Chinese tech companies.Oracle has remained TikTok’s US cloud provider since 2022 in a deal aimed at addressing security concerns.Bessent said final details would be settled when Trump speaks with Xi Jinping, China’s president, on Friday.Trump hinted that the deal was in the making while all sides were still at the table, posting on Truth Social that “A deal was also reached on a ‘certain’ company that young people in our Country very much want to save.They will be very happy!”Greer confirmed that the agreement was now awaiting approval from both leaders.
“We’re not going to be in the business of having repetitive extensions,” Greer said.“We have a deal.”
Late-November budget may affect Christmas shopping, says Aldi boss
The UK boss of Aldi has warned that the late November timing of the budget could hit consumer spending in the all-important run-up to Christmas.Giles Hurley, the UK chief executive of Aldi in the UK & Ireland, said that the uncertainty over the measures that the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will take to address a fiscal hole in the government’s finances could affect festive season spending decisions by consumers.“There is no doubt the budget does create a bit of uncertainty,” he said. “If you ask customers across the length and breadth of the country they would say that inflationary pressures are persistent. Inflationary challenges are just tremendously challenging
Car seats being sold online in UK that risk lives of children, Which? finds
Unregulated children’s car seats are being sold by leading online retailers in the UK, a Which? investigation has found.The consumer group discovered products for sale on platforms including eBay, Shein, Wish, Little Dreams and ManoMano that did not carry the orange certification labels showing compliance with regulation. Without these markings, parents cannot be sure the seats have been tested to the legal standard.Which? said the car seats were putting children’s lives at risk. Many were priced between £12
UK and US line up string of deals to build modular nuclear reactors in Britain
Labour’s plans for a massive expansion of nuclear power have been given a boost with a string of transatlantic deals for new modular reactors announced before Donald Trump’s visit.The UK and US governments have promised to fast track safety checks, and announced several new private sector investment deals, with Labour emphasising the potential benefits for jobs and growth.In the biggest and most advanced commercial project, Britain’s largest energy supplier Centrica will pair with the US reactor firm X-energy to build up to 12 advanced modular reactors in Hartlepool, announcing an investment that could create up to 2,500 jobs in the north-east of England.The prime minister, Keir Starmer, said the US-UK agreement, expected to be signed off formally during the state visit, was a “landmark nuclear partnership” that would also power economic growth.He said: “These major commitments set us well on course to a golden age of nuclear that will drive down household bills in the long run, while delivering thousands of good jobs in the short term
Bank of England urged to slow bond-selling plan to help cut record UK borrowing costs
Andrew Bailey has been urged by former Bank of England policymakers to ease pressure on the government’s borrowing costs by cutting back its bond-selling plans.In a crunch week for the economy, four influential ex-members of the Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) said a change in course was needed.Britain’s long-term borrowing costs have hit their highest level in 27 years, intensifying the pressure on chancellor Rachel Reeves before her 26 November autumn budget.Threadneedle Street has blamed the rise on global factors., triggered by Donald Trump’s trade war and his assault on the independence of the US Federal Reserve
Sainsbury’s talks to sell Argos to Chinese retailer JD.com collapse
Sainsbury’s hopes of offloading its retail business Argos to one of China’s biggest retailers have collapsed as talks ended on Sunday.The supermarket giant confirmed it was no longer in discussions with JD.com to sell Argos, the general merchandise arm it bought for more than £1bn less than a decade ago.On Saturday it had announced talks with JD.com for a sale that it said would speed up the transformation of Argos, whose business has gone increasingly online and within larger Sainsbury’s branches
Australia’s workers reaping greater share of national income than before pandemic
Workers are now receiving more of the “economic pie” than before the pandemic, with the increase in labour’s share of national income delivering an extra $28bn into the pockets of Australians over the past year alone.Pat Bustamante, a senior economist at Westpac, said his analysis suggested that the tighter post-Covid labour market was behind the greater share going to workers, from an average of 53.8% through the 2010s, to more than 55% now.While the movement in the division of national income appears small, even fractional changes translate to tens of billions of dollars in an economy of about $2.8tn
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