Trump, Xi begin talks in push to finalise TikTok deal
Washington (AP): US President Donald Trump is talking with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday in a push to finalise a deal to allow the popular social media app TikTok to keep operating in the United States.
The call between the two leaders began around 8 am Washington time, according to a White House official and China's Xinhua News Agency.
The call may offer clues about whether the two leaders might meet in person to hash out a final agreement to end their trade war and provide clarity on where relations between the world's two superpowers may be headed.
This would be the second call with Xi since Trump returned to the White House and launched sky-high tariffs on China, triggering back-and-forth trade restrictions that strained ties between the two largest economies.
But Trump, a Republican, has expressed willingness to negotiate trade deals with Beijing, notably for the social video platform that faces a US ban unless its Chinese parent company sells its controlling stake.
Another call for Trump and Xi over trade tensions
The two men also spoke in June to defuse tensions over China's restrictions on the export of rare earth elements, used in everything from smartphones to fighter jets.
“I'm speaking with President Xi, as you know, on Friday, having to do with TikTok and also trade,” Trump said Thursday. “And we're very close to deals on all of it.”
He said his relationship with China is “very good” but noted that Russia's war in Ukraine could end if European countries put higher tariffs on China. Trump didn't say if he planned to raise tariffs on Beijing over its purchase of Moscow's oil, as he has done with India.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington on Thursday didn't confirm any upcoming summit between the leaders, but spokesperson Liu Pengyu said “heads-of-state diplomacy plays an irreplaceable role in providing strategic guidance for China-US relations”.
Sun Yun, director of the China programme at the Washington-based think tank Stimson Centre, predicted a positive discussion.
“Both sides have strong desire for the leadership summit to happen, while the details lie in the trade deal and what can be achieved for both sides from the summit,” Sun said.
Following a US-China trade meeting earlier this week in Madrid, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the sides reached a framework deal on TikTok's ownership but Trump and Xi likely would finalise it Friday.
Trump, who has credited the app with helping him win another term, has extended a deadline several times for the app to be spun off from its Chinese parent company ByteDance. It is a requirement to allow TikTok to keep operating in the US under a law passed last year seeking to address data privacy and national security concerns.
Trump said TikTok “has tremendous value” and the US “has that value in its hand because we're the ones that have to approve it”.
US officials have been concerned about ByteDance's roots and ownership, pointing to laws in China that require Chinese companies to hand over data requested by the government. Another concern is the proprietary algorithm that populates what users see on TikTok.
Chinese officials said Monday that a consensus was reached on authorisation of the “use of intellectual property rights,” including the algorithm, and that the two sides agreed on entrusting a partner with handling US user data and content security.
Rep Raja Krishnamoorthi, the ranking Democrat on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, says TikTok's data and algorithm must be “truly in American hands” to comply with the law.
More trade issues on the table
Top US and Chinese officials have held four rounds of trade talks between May and September, with another likely in the coming weeks. Both sides have paused sky-high tariffs and pulled back from harsh export controls, but many issues remain unresolved.
Trump in the call “will likely seek to make it appear that the United States has the upper hand in trade negotiations,” said Ali Wyne, senior research and advocacy adviser on US-China issues at the International Crisis Group.
Xi “will likely seek to underscore China's economic leverage and warn that continued progress in bilateral relations will hinge on an easing of US tariffs, sanctions and export controls,” Wyne said.
No deals have been announced on tech export restrictions, Chinese purchases of US agricultural products or fentanyl. The Trump administration has imposed additional 20% tariffs on Chinese goods linked to allegations that Beijing has failed to stem the flow to the US of the chemicals used to make opioids.
Trump's second-term trade war with Beijing has cost US farmers one of their top markets. From January through July, American farm exports to China fell 53% compared with the same period last year. The damage was even greater in some commodities: US sorghum sales to China, for instance, were down 97%.
Josh Gackle, chairman of the American Soybean Association, said he would be following the outcome of Friday's call because China, the biggest foreign buyer of US beans, has paused purchases for this year's new crop.
“There's still time. It's encouraging that the two countries continue to talk,” Gackle said. “I think there's frustration growing at the farmer level that they haven't been able to reach a deal yet.”
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Ex-PM Devegowda warns opposition of electoral losses if they continue to allege 'vote chori'
New Delhi (PTI): Former Prime Minister H D Devegowda on Monday said the Opposition parties would "suffer" if they continue to raise allegations of "vote chori" and create suspicion in the minds of voters by blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.
Participating in a discussion on election reforms in the Rajya Sabha, he criticised the Opposition for making a mockery about the Prime Minister "in the streets and on the public platform".
"This (India) is a very big country. A large country. Congress may be in three states. Remember my friends please, by using the words 'vote chori' you are going to suffer in the coming days. You are not going to win the battle," Devegowda said, referring to the Opposition members.
He asked what the Opposition is going to earn by "blaming Narendra Modi's leadership and creating a suspicion in the mind of the voters" through the claims of "vote chori".
"What has happened to their minds? Let them rectify," Devegowda said.
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The former prime minister said that during his over seven decades of public life, he has never raised such issues of vote theft despite facing defeat in elections.
He also cited a letter written by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru regarding inclusion of "18,000 votes" (voters) in Kerala.
"Why I am telling this (because) during the Nehru period also, there were certain lapses in the electoral system," said Devegowda, who was the prime minister between June 1, 1996 and April 21, 1997.
He said that the Congress party faced defeat in the recent Bihar elections despite raising the issues of mistakes in the electoral rolls.
"What happened after that even after so much review (of voters list). Think (for) yourself! You got six MLAs," the senior Janata Dal (Secular) leader said.
Devegowda questioned the Opposition as to why they want to make allegations against the prime minister on the issue of the voters list?
"Election Commission is there. Supreme Court is there. The Election Commission has given direction to all the state units to rectify all these things," he said.
Devegowda said people of the country have full confidence in Narendra Modi's government and it will come back to power after the next Lok Sabha elections as well.
K R Suresh Reddy, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party's Rajya Sabha member from Telangana, said that electoral reforms are the backbone for a healthy democracy.
He said a large and diverse nation like Indi needs clean electoral rolls.
Asserting that strict re-verification should not become a mechanism for exclusion, Reddy said no eligible voter should lose their right to vote simply because accessing paperwork is difficult.
He said while the concern definitely is on the voters' exclusion, "we should also be equally concerned about the percentage of voting."
"What is happening in voting today? Once the election ends, the drama begins. The biggest challenge that the Indian democracy has been facing in spite of two major Constitutional amendments has been the anti-defection. Anti-defection is the name of the game today, especially in smaller states, especially where the legislatures are small in number," Reddy said.
The senior BRS leader suggested creation of a parliamentary committee "which would constantly look into the defection" and "ways and means to cutting that".
AIADMK's M Thambidurai raised the issues related to election campaigning.
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"Election campaigns are one of the important election processes. In that, political parties must be given the proper chance to campaign," he said and cited problems faced by his party in Tamil Nadu in this regard.
Thambidurai said political parties were facing hardships in Tamil Nadu to conduct public meetings and to express their views to the public.
YSRCP's Yerram Venkata Subba Reddy stressed on bringing electoral reforms at both the state and national levels.
He also suggested replacing Electronic Voting Machines with paper ballots in all future elections.
"EVM may be efficient but can't be trusted. Paper ballot may not be efficient but can be trusted. You need trust in democracy," Reddy added.
