WSJ What’s News - China, U.S. Near Deal on TikTok

Episode Date: September 17, 2025

A.M. Edition for Sept. 17. WSJ’s Jonathan Cheng outlines what we know about TikTok’s proposed U.S. business and crucially, what this means for users of the app and not least TikTok’s lucrative algorithm. Plus, President Trump meets King Charles in a historic second state visit. WSJ U.K. correspondent Max Colchester says a lot of pomp and circumstance is expected - and even some trade talks later on. And, with the Federal Reserve almost certain to cut interest rates today, investors turn their attention to the Fed's latest economic projections. Caitlin McCabe hosts. Sign up for the WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Plus, President Trump meets King Charles in a historic second state visit. This is really Britain laying on the royal pizzazz thick to try and win over Trump and butter him up. And buckle up market watchers. It's finally Fed Day. It's Wednesday, September 17th. I'm Caitlin McCabe for the Wall Street Journal, and here's the AM edition of What's News. The top headlines and business stories moving your world today. U.S. investors and President Trump are closing in on a TikTok deal with China in what could end a years-long saga over the social media platform's U.S. operations. According to people familiar with the matter, TikTok's U.S. business would be controlled by an investor consortium that includes Oracle, Silver Lake, and Andresen Horowitz.

Under a framework, the U.S. and China are finalizing as talks shift into high gear. Our China Bureau Chief Jonathan Chang explains what the potential deal might look like. So, first of all, the main thing to say at this point is that nothing is set in stone yet. What would happen is that these American companies would buy a collective stake of about 80% and leave the remainder a little bit under 20% for Chinese shareholders to own. That would allow the app in the U.S. TikTok USA to remain prime. primarily majority owned by American investors. There's talk that the composition of the Board of Directors

would be dominated by American representatives and one of the members would potentially be designated by the U.S. government to ensure that the national security element of this is under control. There's concern that with the data that's being collected through the app on what young people are talking about, where they are, their viewing habits, that all of this stuff is of great value to whichever government is able to access this information. Jonathan adds that although the full details are yet to be sketched out, there's an

understanding that users in the U.S. would move to a new app. Crucially, this means engineers would be recreating TikTok's lucrative algorithm for the American app, a key concession from China. Part of the concern on Beijing side here is that TikTok, the reason why it's so special, the reason why it has such a large following is its algorithm. It's the secret sauce that makes it so successful. It is what effectively makes the app so addictive. And Beijing had treated this intellectual property, this algorithm,

as a national security concern of its own. It didn't want to have it expropriated by America. And so that was one of the real obstacles to a deal here. And it looks like as part of it, the horse trading that's involved with all of this trade and tariffs and other sort of restrictions that China may be willing to have this algorithm stay with the Chinese parent company bite dance, but have it be licensed to TikTok USA. It's worth noting that both China and the U.S. still need to agree to these terms, which in turn

could change the outline of this perspective deal. Former Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erica McIntarfer made her first public comments yesterday since President Trump fired her last month, and she didn't mince words, saying her dismissal marks a, quote, dangerous step for the economy. McIntyre said countries like Argentina, Greece, and Turkey have all ousted statisticians over disappointing numbers, which in turn eroded trust in economic data, leading to worsening economic crises, higher inflation, and higher borrowing costs. McIntyre was dismissed in August after Trump complained about massive downward revisions to the number of jobs created this spring and accused her of manipulating the data to make him look bad. Economists have refuted those claims.

And at long last, it's Fed Day, with an interest rate decision coming from the central bank at 2 p.m. Eastern. President Trump's appointee to join the board, Stephen Myron, will be among the governor's voting on rates after being rapidly sworn into the role yesterday. Journal reporter Joe Wallace says Myron's quick path to Fed Governor has ruffled feathers in Washington, with Democrats introducing a bill in the Senate yesterday targeting Myron's dual role at the Fed and the White House. Senate Democrats are worried that the Federal Reserve's independence when it sets interest rates could be eroded if officials can hold roles both at the White House and at the Fed. They've introduced a bill to ban officials from doing just that.

The backdrop, of course, is Stephen Myran's new position as Fed Governor. he'll vote on interest rates today for the first time. And although he has taken a leave of absence from his role as chair of the Council of Economic Advisors at the White House, he hasn't resigned. And although his role at the Fed is due to expire in January, he could stay on indefinitely if President Trump doesn't nominate a successor. Investors are widely expecting the Fed to cut rates later today. But if you're hoping that would lead to better mortgage rates, think again. Last week, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 6.35%. But even if we get a quarter point cut to interest

rates today, personal finance reporter Veronica Dagger says mortgage rates won't necessarily follow suit. Many economists expect mortgage rates to gradually drop through the end of the year and into early next, but largely stay above 6%. A few in the industry say rates could dip into the high fives by late 26. But those who've been predicting a big drop in rates have been wrong over and over again over the last few years. And check out WSJ.com later for all of our Fed coverage and not least Chair Pals Presser shortly after 2 p.m. Eastern. Coming up, we look at President Trump's unprecedented second state visit to the UK and why one of Ben and Jerry's co-founders is quitting the company after nearly 50 years. Those stories after the break.

This message comes from Viking, committed to exploring the world in comfort. Journey through the heart of Europe on an elegant Viking longship with thoughtful service, destination-focused dining, and cultural enrichment on board and on shore. And every Viking voyage is all-inclusive with no children and no casinos. Discover more at viking.com. President Trump is in the first. the UK this morning and set to meet King Charles in Windsor Castle as part of a second state visit. The visit will be entirely private and out of sight of the public and any protests.

Overnight, police arrested four people after images of Trump and late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were projected onto Windsor Castle, and the Stop Trump Coalition is also expected to hold major protests in London and Windsor today. Max Colchester is our UK correspondent. Max, it's actually the first time in UK history that a U.S. leader has been granted the honor to visit twice. Can you walk us through what we're expecting? We're expecting a lot of pump and a lot of circumstance. There's going to be horse-drawn carriages containing the president and the first lady. There's going to be around a thousand soldiers on parade. There's going to be fly-past. And this is really

Britain laying on the royal pizzazz thick to try and win over Trump and butter him up so that he is more amenable to Britain's trade demands and foreign policy demands. Yeah, lots of royal pizzazz, indeed. Let's back up for a second. How did this visit come about? So this all came about after Trump was reelected. The British government quickly realized that the way to his heart was through the royal family, whom he deeply admires. And so what we saw last February was the British Prime Minister arrive in the Oval Office and do a fairly unusual stunt, which is normally these invitations are given privately. But in this instance, Stama presented with a flourish, a letter from His Majesty, King's. Charles III, inviting Trump to this historic second visit, which seemed to please the president greatly. And so here we are. This visit also comes at quite the strategic time for Britain.

The UK has already secured an early tariff deal. But there are other trade discussions, including around products like steel that are still underway, right? Absolutely. There's still a lot to play for. Britain has managed to secure a favorable tariff deal compared to many countries around the world, but it is still paying tariffs. And so the UK government hopes that it can further negotiate down those tariffs, especially in areas such as steel. And there's also a big foreign policy dimension here. The UK has been instrumental in trying to keep Trump on side in getting the US to contribute to Europe's security, in particular, in applying pressure on Russia over Ukraine. So that is also a very big thing they're going to be discussing.

So although the UK is getting favorable treatment from Trump, they really do feel there is more that they can gain from this relationship. What are the potential flash points that you're watching for from this visit? Well, the big question is really that Stama and Europe more generally have given Trump everything he wants. They are spending more on defense. They've granted him trade deals and they have kowtowed before him. Now the question is, what happens next? Now that, and particularly in the UK, they've given him this extra glitz of a royal visit. Once all that's been banked, does Trump come back and ask for more?

And if so, does the UK and the Europeans continue to acquiesce? or will there be a point where they say no more? There's also a big ongoing debate in the UK about free speech and several people in the MAGA sphere have come out and criticised the UK for not doing more to allow people to express their views online or in person. So we could see potentially pressure from the US administration for the UK government to change its position on that. But again, these are issues that now become very difficult to solve.

It would be very hard for the British Prime Minister to go and change the country's approach to free speech because of what a foreign government is pressuring him on. So we're now entering potentially a much more difficult phase here in the relationship if Trump does decide to pressure for more things. Max Colchester covers the UK for the Wall Street Journal. Max, thanks so much for being here. Many thanks.

And finally, Ben and Jerry's co-founder, Jerry Greenfield, is stepping away from the company after 47 years, ahead of Unilever's planned spinoff of its ice cream business as a separate entity. The ice cream brand and its parent company have clashed for years over the brand social activism, and especially its stance on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Posting on social media, Greenfield said, quote, Ben and Jerry's has been silenced, sideline for fear of upsetting those in power, end quote, adding that he decided to leave because the ice cream brand was no longer allowed to stand behind social justice issues that were core to its business. A spokesman for Unilever's

ice cream business said in a statement that they were grateful to Greenfield and dedicated to the company's mission of product, economic, and social commitments. And that's it for What's News for this Wednesday morning. Today's show is produced by Kate Bullivant and Rema McKenna. Our supervising producers were Daniel Bach and Sandra Kilhoff. And I'm Caitlin McCabe for The Wall Street Journal. We'll be back tonight with a new show. Until then, thanks for listening.

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