Trump sets the stage for his highly-anticipated Friday call with Xi Jinping
President Donald Trump on Thursday set high expectation for his Friday call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, describing a deal over TikTok as all but completed and adding that he is looking to make progress on broader issues like tariffs.
The president spoke about a deal around the social media app in the past tense — even as some issues remain publicly unresolved — promising that the final company will be controlled by “all American investors.”
He added during the appearance in the United Kingdom that he also looking to discuss an array of issues with his counterpart, saying “on a much bigger scale, we're pretty close to a deal.”
The highly anticipated call between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies is set for Friday, reportedly at 9 am ET.
Chinese state media confirmed a TikTok framework deal had been reached but offered a somewhat different summary, saying among other things that there was a "consensus reached by both parties, for the continued operation of Chinese enterprises, including TikTok, in the United States."
The core question surrounds how the Chinese-controlled algorithm that has long powered TikTok will continue to be used if the app is spun off into a separate American-led company.
Trump offered little insight there on Thursday, saying “TikTok has tremendous value” and rather than let is go to waste “I'd rather reap the benefits.”
Reports of the deal have suggested that a consortium led by tech giant Oracle (ORCL), venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and private equity firm Silver Lake Management will spearhead the attempt to keep TikTok operational in the United States.
Trump sounded very confident Thursday, adding he expected to address a range of other issues Friday and adding that a partial tariff detente could be extended.
"We may do an extension with China, but it's an extension based on the same terms that we have right now, which are pretty good terms," he said.
Current duties between the two nations are 30% on Chinese imports and 10% on American goods. Sector-specific tariffs on goods like steel and some medical supplies are currently pushing the effective tariff rate between the two countries higher.
If a current 90-day pause is allowed to expire in early November, it could mean a return to triple-digit tariffs that were briefly in place at the beginning of Trump's term.
Friday's call will be the first reported conversation between the two men since June — and comes after a meeting in Spain earlier this week among their aides that focused on both tariffs and TikTok.
That meeting ended with Trump aides promising that a framework of a TikTok deal had been reached but that it has to be finalized in Friday’s call.
Chinese actions around chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) could also be a topic Friday — with Trump crossing paths with CEO Jensen Huang in England Thursday and jokingly saying that AI is "taking over the world" and pointedly looking at the CEO who was in the audience.
Chinese authorities contend that Nvidia has violated anti-monopoly laws which has raised questions about the chipmakers plans to begin new chip sales in China.
The White House has announced plans to allow Nvidia to ship of certain chips to China in return for a 15% stake of sales.
Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
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