Trump Wants A Large Cut Of TikTok Sale Price, Chinese Media Called This An Open Robbery

After saying on Friday that he would rather ban TikTok than seeing it acquired by an American company, President Donald Trump has had a change of heart over the weekend and now he gives the deal his blessing.

It appears that a weekend call from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had cause Trump to change his mind, which is why the American tech giant could announce with confidence on Sunday that it was negotiating with ByteDance to acquire TikTok business.

After showing his support for the contract, the U.S president said he hoped a chunk of the sale price would end up in the American government’s account.

China’s state media immediately expressed their fury after news of Trump’s wish to take a cut of TikTok sale for the US Treasury price broke out on Monday.

Editor-in-chief Hu Xijin of state-run Global Times said in a tweet that Trump was doing an open robbery.

The last few days have been rough for ByteDance, the Chinese company behind TikTok. Last week, Trump said the short-video sharing site would be banned altogether in the U.S. However, he softened his attitude later and endorsed the deal between Microsoft and ByteDance.

On Monday, Trump said Nadella could try and go ahead with the deal. After September 15, TikTok would be out of business in the U.S, but if someone bought it, that would be interesting.

He later said if the deal went through, the U.S government should get a cut. Explaining this claim, the president remarked that since the government made the deal possible, the U.S Treasury should claim a substantial portion of the price.

The China Daily, owned by China’s Communist Party said in an editorial that the East Asian country would never accept the theft targeting one of its technology companies.

So far, Trump’s explanation of why the U.S should get a cut has been vague. He cited the landlord-tenant relationship. Trump said ByteDance had no rights unless the U.S it to the company. So if ByteDance wanted the rights, something had to come to the U.S, like the landlord-tenant relationship. The tenant had nothing without the lease.

So the U.S should have a substantial amount of money from the deal, in Trump’s opinion, because without the U.S government, they would have nothing.

On Monday, in a press briefing, Trump was asked where he thought the money should come from, ByteDance or Microsoft. He again gave a vague answer.

All he said was the U.S should get a large chunk of the sale price, regardless of the origin of the sum.

Neither Microsoft nor ByteDance has commented anything on Trump’s remark.

>>> Chinese Netizens Call TikTok CEO A Traitor For Selling The App To An American Company