A TikTok deal between the United States and China appears to be on its way to being finalized.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office Thursday afternoon paving the way for a TikTok deal that could transfer majority ownership of the app to Americans.
While it appears the terms of the agreement are set, it will likely take some more time for the sides to close the deal as they hammer out the exact legal and financial points.
Trump says the support of China is very important to the deal, and Chinese President Xi Jinping has given his stamp of approval.
"I had a very good talk with President Xi. I have a lot of respect for him; hopefully, he has a lot of respect for me, too. And we talked about TikTok and other things, but we talked about TikTok and he gave us the go ahead, you know, it's run by American investors and American companies, great ones, great investors. The biggest, you know, get bigger, I don't imagine," Trump said.
When asked to describe China's stance on the deal and whether they are fully on board, Trump confirmed their support.
"They're on board, yeah. I spoke with President Xi. We had a good talk. I told him what we were doing, and he said, go ahead with it," Trump said.
It's still unclear who all the investors of the deal are, but Trump said during the signing that Oracle and its co-founder Larry Ellison will play a "big" role.
He also added that tech entrepreneur Michael Dell and media mogul Rupert Murdoch will also be involved.
