President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday ended with several trade-related announcements but without clarity on TikTok’s ownership.
“China will work with the US to properly resolve issues related to TikTok,” China’s commerce ministry said after the meeting. The statement did not elaborate on any progress made toward resolving the app’s uncertain future in the United States.
The Trump administration had indicated earlier in the week that a breakthrough was near.
Treasury secretary Scott Bessent told CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday that the two leaders would “consummate that transaction on Thursday in Korea.”
TikTok’s future has been under question since Congress passed, and President Joe Biden signed, a law requiring the app to find a new owner to replace China’s ByteDance or face a ban in the US.
TikTok went dark on the January deadline, but Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office to keep it running while his administration pursued a sale.
Since then, Trump has issued three more executive orders extending the deal deadlines.
The US also announced a one-year suspension of certain technology export restrictions as part of a broader understanding between Trump and Xi. “The US would enact a one-year suspension of Entity List restrictions that make it harder for Chinese firms to use affiliates to buy off-limits technology,” Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on Fox Business Network.
The moratorium coincided with a pause by China on new rare earth export controls. “China had agreed to keep rare earth exports flowing and the issue was ‘settled,’” Trump said after the summit.
China’s commerce ministry later confirmed it would “pause for one year export controls introduced on October 9,” though earlier restrictions from April, which tightened control over seven rare earths and magnets vital to automakers and defence firms, remain in place.
US trade representative Jamieson Greer added that “China would not impose its proposed rare earth controls,” but did not address the existing April restrictions that caused supply chain disruptions.
China’s October controls had also targeted exports of electric battery equipment and industrial diamonds, prompting a rush among companies such as India’s Reliance Industries to ship goods before the curbs took effect. It remains unclear whether the pause also covers those sectors.
Bessent said the two sides had finalised “The Kuala Lumpur agreement” and expected to sign it “as soon as next week.”
He added that “China has agreed to buy a minimum of 25 million metric tons (not 12 million) of soybeans per year for the next three years.” He further stated, “China will be doing a massive amount of farm purchases.”
Bessent also said, “China’s Xi unilaterally expressed interest in the US pipeline project in Alaska.” He confirmed that “suspension of Commerce Entity List rule was agreed in exchange for China’s rare earths pause,” and that “China committed to reducing precursor flow on fentanyl.”
Trump, he added, “agreed to cut the fentanyl tariff on China in half.”