President Trump said he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea next month, and that the two made progress on the approval of a deal on new ownership of TikTok.
Mr. Trump said in a Truth Social post after the call that it was “very productive” and that he agreed to travel to China early next year.
“President Xi would, likewise, come to the United States at an appropriate time,” he said. “The call was a very good one, we will be speaking again by phone, appreciate the TikTok approval, and both look forward to meeting at APEC!”
Later Friday, Mr. Trump said in the Oval Office that there are “some great investors, some of the biggest in the world, American investors” who are lined up for the TikTok deal and that the deal is “well on its way,” but still needs to be signed.
He shared that they spoke for almost two hours, and that along with trade, TikTok and the Russia-Ukraine war, they also spoke about the situation in Gaza.
The two leaders spoke in a phone call Friday that the White House said started at 8 a.m.
The call was expected to focus on TikTok and also on trade, as the world’s two biggest economies have been locked in a tariff war.
“We made progress on many very important issues including Trade, Fentanyl, the need to bring the War between Russia and Ukraine to an end, and the approval of the TikTok Deal,” he said.
The president has signaled that he’s open to negotiating, and told Fox News Thursday that “we’re very close to deals on all of it.”
“My relationship with China is very good. We have a trade deal with them. We had a very good meeting the other day. And it sounds like they have approved TikTok,” he said.
Earlier this week, Mr. Trump formally extended the deadline for a new TikTok ownership deal for a fourth time since taking office in January. The new deadline is mid-December.
Mr. Trump was previously an advocate for the app’s ban, but has switched courses after crediting the app with helping him to get a greater share of the youth vote in the 2024 election.
Chinese reports have said the countries have reached a “basic framework consensus” on a TikTok deal, but criticized the “politicization, instrumentalization and weaponization of technology as well as economic and trade matters.”
Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi spoke last in June.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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