Donald Trump Demands US’ Cut From the TikTok Deal

TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, is under pressure to sell its US business after Donald Trump threatened to ban it.

The Trump administration has accused TikTok of providing data to the Chinese government, which Beijing and TikTok denied. 

However, President Donald Trump said he would allow an American company to acquire the app and also he has set a deadline of September 15 to get a US buyer, and failure to buy the short dance app will lead to it shut down in the country.

Donald Trump has also demanded a substantial amount of money coming to the US Treasury must be included in the deal.

“The United States should get a substantial percentage of that price because we’re making it possible,” Mr Trump said. “It would come from the sale, which nobody else would be thinking about but me, but that’s the way I think, and I think it’s very fair.”

“Right now they don’t have any rights unless we give it to them. So if we’re going to give them the rights, then … it has to come into this country,” Trump said. “It’s a great asset, but it’s not a great asset in the United States unless they have approval in the United States.”

The US President said the US should get a significant amount of the deal either way, (Microsoft, the prospective buyer or the TikTok’s Chinese parent Byte Dance).

“Whether it’s Microsoft or somebody else, or if it’s the Chinese — what the price is, the United States could — should get a substantial percentage of that price. Because we’re making it possible,” he said.

A reporter at MIT Technology Review, Charlotte Jee while speaking to BBC’s programme said Mr Trump’s comments were pretty astonishing.

“I hate to say this, but it is kind of almost Mafia-like behaviour – threatening a ban which pushes down the price then saying ‘oh we should get a cut of that deal afterwards to say thank you for what we’ve done there”. She added. “It is extraordinary behaviour as well because last week we had lawmakers in the US trying to look at whether tech companies are too big and now we’ve got Trump trying to make one of them even bigger so it is a really, really bizarre situation to be in.”

US President, Donald Trump, issued an executive order that would ban the Chinese company from US (TikTok and WeChat) in 45 days if any Microsoft or any other company fails to buy.

Moreso, Microsoft confirmed in a blog post, her discussions on a potential deal with TikTok.

Besides selling TikTok to a US buyer, ByteDance may also be considering other moves to insulate itself from the US-China fight further.

Responding to reports that it is considering London for a new TikTok headquarters, ByteDance said in a statement that it was “committed to being a global company.”

“In light of the current situation, ByteDance has been evaluating the possibility of establishing TikTok’s headquarters outside of the US, to serve our global users better,” the company said.