NextFin news, On Friday, September 19, 2025, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping conducted a significant phone call at 9 a.m. Washington time (9 p.m. Beijing time) to discuss critical issues including the future of TikTok’s US operations, trade tariffs, and semiconductor export controls affecting Nvidia.
The call centered on a recently unveiled framework agreement proposing to transfer control of TikTok’s US operations from its Chinese parent company ByteDance Ltd. to a consortium of American investors, including Oracle Corp., Andreessen Horowitz, and Silver Lake Management LLC. Under the proposed deal, ByteDance would retain no more than a 20 percent stake. Details of the agreement have not been publicly disclosed.
President Trump expressed cautious optimism about the TikTok deal in a Fox News interview aired on Thursday, September 18, stating, “It sounds like they’ve approved TikTok, and TikTok is a tremendous amount of money for the United States so that was nice, but we’ll see how that all works.” He also emphasized the value of the app and his preference to “reap the benefits” rather than give away value.
This conversation marked the first direct engagement between the two leaders since June amid ongoing trade tensions. Key issues on the agenda included the future of US tariffs on Chinese goods, which have seen levies as high as 145 percent in the past, and the US export restrictions on advanced semiconductor chips, particularly those produced by Nvidia Corp., which powers much of the global artificial intelligence sector.
Nvidia has been lobbying the Trump administration to ease export controls that currently limit its access to the Chinese market. Meanwhile, Chinese regulators have accused Nvidia of violating anti-monopoly laws and have urged domestic tech companies to reduce reliance on Nvidia products in favor of local suppliers.
President Trump indicated progress in trade negotiations, stating, “We’re very close to deals on all of it,” referring to both trade talks and the TikTok arrangement. The call also raised the possibility of an in-person meeting between the two leaders, which would be their first since Trump’s return to office.
Beyond economic issues, the leaders were expected to touch on broader geopolitical concerns, including ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as escalating tensions in the South China Sea.
The TikTok deal comes amid bipartisan US national security legislation enacted in January aimed at addressing concerns over Chinese technology ownership and data security. However, President Trump has signed executive orders extending deadlines related to the law, signaling a more transactional approach to the negotiations.
Experts have noted that the success of the TikTok deal hinges on whether the US investors gain true control over the app’s technology and algorithms, a key point of contention given China’s interest in maintaining technological influence. Analysts suggest that if the deal falls short of US expectations, the administration may follow through on threats to remove TikTok from the US market.
Meanwhile, the US and China remain in a temporary détente on tariffs until November, with some levies retained as leverage to curb the flow of fentanyl and precursor materials. The Trump administration’s position could be affected by an upcoming US Supreme Court ruling on the legality of certain tariff powers used to impose these levies.
President Trump has also called on US allies to increase economic pressure on China and India to influence Russian President Vladimir Putin and help bring an end to the war in Ukraine.
Sources: The Straits Times, Bloomberg Law News
Explore more exclusive insights at nextfin.ai.
