TikTok ban looms in US: Treasury secretary Scott Bessent claims deal ‘very close’; Donald Trump says it’s ‘up to China’

The US and China are nearing an agreement regarding their TikTok dispute, according to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's statement on Monday during renewed trade discussions in Madrid."On the TikTok deal itself, we're very close to resolving the issue," Bessent said while talking to journalists as he arrived at Spain's foreign ministry for day two of the negotiations."If we don't reach an agreement on TikTok, it doesn't affect the overall relationship between the two countries. It's still very good at the highest levels," he further added.This comes in the backdrop of Donald Trump's statement saying "it's up to China". Trump offered an uncertain outlook on TikTok’s future, saying China could ultimately determine the app’s fate. Just days before a September 17 deadline for parent company ByteDance to sell its US assets or face a ban, Trump told reporters in New Jersey, “We may let it die, or we may, I don’t know — it depends, up to China,” before heading back to Washington.Trump has repeatedly delayed the US deadline for TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to sell its US assets, now set for September 17. While lawmakers cite national security concerns, Trump has praised the app’s role in reaching young voters. “It doesn’t matter too much. I’d like to do it for the kids. They like it,” he said Sunday.Trump highlighted TikTok’s impact on his campaign: “I did very well on TikTok, and I got the youth vote and I got numbers that nobody’s ever even come close to in the Republican Party,” adding, “Some was attributed to TikTok, and a lot was attributed to Charlie,” referring to conservative activist Charlie Kirk, assassinated on September 10.Sources told Reuters the administration is likely to grant another extension, buying time for negotiations but frustrating Congress. US and Chinese officials also met in Madrid on Sunday, where TikTok joined a broader trade agenda. Since January, Trump has postponed enforcement three times, first to April, then June, and now September, leaving the app’s fate uncertain.