Talks resumed in Madrid on Monday, being the fourth round of discussions in as many months between delegations led by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. 

The discussions cover far more than TikTok, as tariffs, rare earth exports, and economic ties are all on the table.

Bessent, speaking alongside U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, stressed that Washington would not compromise on security. “We are not willing to sacrifice national security for a social media app,” he said, adding that Beijing had come forward with “a very aggressive ask.”

While both sides say technical progress has been made, the sticking points go deeper. For Washington, the divestment of TikTok’s U.S. arm remains a red line. For Beijing, TikTok is part of a negotiation package that includes tariffs and long-standing export restrictions. 

Greer stated that, “From the Chinese perspective, they view as part and parcel of the potential TikTok deal a variety of matters, whether it’s tariffs or other measures that have been taken over years.”

The September 17 deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations is fast approaching. It is already the fourth extension granted by President Donald Trump this year. 

Trump himself has spoken about flexibility, saying: “We may let it die, or we may… I don’t know. It depends on China.” Analysts note the political undertone: TikTok’s popularity with younger voters has given the White House leverage that goes beyond trade.

But the divestment itself is not straightforward. China classifies TikTok’s algorithm as a sensitive export, complicating any potential sale to U.S. buyers. Earlier this year, Beijing blocked a proposed restructuring of TikTok’s U.S. operations after Trump imposed steep tariffs.

The negotiations are also taking place against the backdrop of a fragile truce in the wider trade war. In July, China agreed to resume rare earth exports to the United States, crucial for defence and technology sectors. Yet Beijing has withheld its quota data for 2025, pointing to rare earths that may once again be used as a bargaining chip.

For now, tariffs remain partially reduced, U.S. duties stand at 30% on Chinese goods and China has imposed 10% on American exports. These reductions expire in November, after which Washington plans to maintain tariffs of up to 55% on Chinese imports unless a new deal is reached.

Despite the high stakes, expectations for a breakthrough in Madrid are low. William Reinsch, senior trade adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told reporters: “I’m not expecting anything substantive between the United States and China unless and until there is a one-on-one meeting between Trump and Xi. Setting that up is really what these talks are all about.”

Such a meeting may take place in October during the APEC summit in South Korea, but Beijing is unlikely to agree without significant concessions, particularly on export controls and tariff rollbacks.

For now, both sides appear willing to extend deadlines rather than risk collapse. A concluding press briefing in Madrid was tentatively scheduled, but whether it will announce progress or simply another pause in a long-running case is still unknown.

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Per Reuters, the new programme will allow staff to sell their shares back to the company at $200.41 each, an increase of 5.5% from the $189.90 offer made six months ago.

This comes on the back of strong financial results. In the second quarter of 2025, ByteDance reported revenue of about $48 billion, a 25% rise compared with last year. 

That performance pushed the Chinese company ahead of Meta, whose revenue for the same period stood at $42.3 billion. In the first quarter, ByteDance had already overtaken Meta with $43 billion in revenue.

Regular buybacks have become a hallmark of the Beijing-based firm, enabling employees to unlock some of the value of their holdings. 

Unlike other privately held giants such as SpaceX or OpenAI, which depend on external investors to fund similar programmes, ByteDance pays for its own buybacks directly from its balance sheet. That choice is widely read as a sign of financial strength and high profit margins.

Alongside rewarding employees, ByteDance is ploughing money into its artificial intelligence vision. In 2025 alone, the company plans to spend more than $12 billion on AI infrastructure. 

About $5.5 billion is earmarked for chips in China, while $6.8 billion will be used overseas to build large-scale model training capacity powered by Nvidia processors. The company’s chatbot, Doubao, already has 71 million monthly active users as of late 2024, showing growth beyond social media.

Still, ByteDance is still locked in a political case over TikTok’s future in the United States. A law passed in Washington requires the company to sell off TikTok’s U.S. arm or face a nationwide ban. The deadline, now set for September 17, 2025, has been extended several times by President Donald Trump. 

“U.S. buyers were lined up for TikTok and the deadline could be pushed back again,” Trump said last week, though some lawmakers argue that repeated delays are ignoring national security risks.

A joint venture led by Susquehanna International Group, General Atlantic, KKR, and Andreessen Horowitz is expected to take control of TikTok’s U.S. business. 

Blackstone, however, has withdrawn from the consortium after setbacks in the deal process. People familiar with the matter say TikTok’s U.S. operations are still loss-making, even as the broader ByteDance group stays profitable.

To ease issues among its American workforce, the company has considered launching a standalone app for U.S. users. 

ByteDance did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the buyback.

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