It seems we have not heard the last of this issue.
After we heard that Trump was going ahead with the ban on TikTok in US and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella saying later that he talked with Trump about the interest in buying the company, Trump seems to have changed his mind.
However, there is an interesting twist. Speaking at the White House on Monday, President Trump said the U.S. Treasury should collect a portion of the potential sale of TikTok. One wonders why the government should be concerned in the sales proceeds between two private companies and under what authority the US government could demand such a payment.
Recounting his discussion with Satya Nadella, President Trump said “I did say that, ‘If you buy it … a very substantial portion of that price is going to have to come into the Treasury of the United States, because we’re making it possible for this deal to happen.’ Right now they don’t have any rights unless we give it to them.”
He also added that TikTok will “close down on Sept. 15 unless Microsoft or somebody else is able to buy it.”
The Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which reviews foreign deals for potential security risks, gave Microsoft and ByteDance 45 days to reach a deal, Reuters reported.
