Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump held a phone call on the evening of the 19th, Beijing time. This is the third call between the two leaders this year since Trump was re-elected for a second term. Their last call was in June this year.
According to reports from the Central News Agency, Trump later responded to media questions in the Oval Office at the White House on the afternoon of the 19th, U.S. Eastern Time, stating that he had a nearly two-hour phone call with Xi Jinping earlier, calling it a "very good conversation" which covered many topics, including trade and the Russia-Ukraine war.
Trump said, "We have approved the TikTok agreement... We are looking forward to completing this deal." Although follow-up signatures are still needed, he emphasized, "The TikTok agreement is moving forward smoothly... Investors are preparing," and that China also wants to see TikTok continue operating in the U.S.
●"Believe Xi Jinping Wants to See an End to the Russia-Ukraine War"
Trump reiterated that he has a very good relationship with Xi Jinping.
Regarding the issue of Russia and Ukraine, Trump said: "We are making every effort to promote reconciliation between Russia and Ukraine... We will get this done."
Trump said he discussed this matter with Xi Jinping and believes Xi hopes to see the war end, and will cooperate with the United States.
A U.S. federal law requires TikTok to be sold to a non-Chinese company for national security reasons, otherwise it will be banned. Since taking office, Trump has extended TikTok's grace period four times. Recently, during U.S.-China tariff and economic policy talks in Spain, the U.S. side stated that both sides have reached a framework agreement on TikTok.
Trump believes that this agreement is good, and that TikTok will be controlled by very powerful and important Americans. He also said he was not originally a supporter of TikTok, but after starting to use it, became a fan.
Trump, who had long supported banning TikTok or requiring its Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest, later changed his stance and vowed to defend TikTok. He believes TikTok helped him gain the support of young voters in last November's U.S. election.
TikTok is currently one of the most commonly used social media platforms among Americans, with about 170 million U.S. users.