Trump announces TikTok deal with US buyer

President Trump announced a deal with a U.S. buyer for the social media app TikTok on Tuesday.

The divestment of TikTok, which is owned by China's ByteDance and has 170 million U.S. users, has been part of months-long negotiations between the U.S. and China, Reuters reported.

"We have a deal on TikTok ... We have a group of very big companies that want to buy it," Trump said, without giving further details. The announcement comes a day before the most recent deadline to sell or shut down the app.

Trump praised the trade deal, calling it an upgrade for both the U.S. and China, and said it would keep tens of billions of dollars in value.

An agreement might have to be approved by Congress, which passed a law last year that required TikTok's divestiture due to concerns that its U.S. user data could be accessed by the Chinese government, allowing Americans to be spied on or influenced through the app.

The deal is expected to be closed within the next 30 to 45 days, according to CNBC, and the agreement will include existing investors in ByteDance and new investors.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that the commercial terms of the deal had basically been done since around March, with just a few details needing to be ironed out.

"This deal wouldn't be done without proper safeguards for U.S. national security," Bessent said. "It seems as though we were also able to meet the Chinese interest."