US and China close to deal on TikTok

The United States and China are "very close" to resolving the TikTok issue, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant said during the resumption of trade talks in Madrid, Bloomberg reports.

Bessant added that the Chinese side made "aggressive demands" during the talks, without elaborating. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the sides also discussed trade imbalances, but no concrete solution had been found.

The talks in Madrid come amid heightened contacts between the world's two largest economies ahead of a possible meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at a summit in South Korea next month.

Recall that the deadline for the sale of TikTok, owned by China's ByteDance Ltd., expires this week. If the US president does not extend the postponement, the app will not be able to operate in the United States. Reuters previously reported that the Trump administration is likely to do so.