Trump: US Treasury should have its share of TikTok Deal if it happens
United States President Donald Trump has suggested there would be no problem for a TikTok deal if the America gets its share of pie. Trump revealed he made a demand for a substantial portion to Microsoft’s boss in a phone call at the weekend. The Republican also said that there may be a ban on the application that is owned and operated by ByteDance, a China-based IT company on Sep 15, 2020 if a deal could not be consummated between US and China. ByteDance says it being is bullied by Trump administration to sell its US assets after the President threatened to launch a crackdown against Chinese tech giants for allegedly spying in the America.
Trump administration has long accused Chinese businesses in the country of illegally acquiring and stealing US data to eventually share it to Chinese government, an accusation both TikTok and Beijing trash.
“The United States should get a very large 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,” he added.
The unorthodox request to get a chunk from the TikTok deal in order to seal a regulatory approval is considered highly complicated by the legal experts. On the payment sanctioned for US Treasury, Nicholas Klein, a lawyer at DLA Piper said, generally “the government does not have the authority to take a cut of a private deal through” the Committed on Foreign Investment in US, an inter-agency committed that regulates the foreign investments inside the American land.
Talks for a takeover deal have appeared to get further unfruitful on Friday when the President voiced his opposition to Microsoft buying TikTok’s US assets. Now when, Trump has given green signal for a potential takeover deal and there is some hope for deal to be materialized, the tight deadline for talks looks to be another major hurdle in inking a deal.
TikTok’s US operations “will close down on September 15 unless Microsoft or somebody else is able to buy it and work out a deal, an appropriate deal so the Treasury… of the United States gets a lot of money,” he said.
TikTok US assets could be acquired by Microsoft
WH trade adviser on Monday also suggested that MS could released its Chinese assets in exchange of TikTok’s US business.
“So, the question is, is Microsoft going to be compromised?” Mr. Navarro said while talking to CNN.
“Maybe Microsoft could divest its Chinese holdings?”, he added.
Microsoft on Sunday through a blog post said it would continue discussion on a potential deal breakthrough with the TikTok owners following a call between its CEO Satya Nadella and Republican President.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in another statement on Sunday said that President Trump is going to take action against the Chinese software manufacturers in the coming days in a bid to protect and boost United States national security which has been compromised by some Chinese-owned businesses in the country.
Talking to Fox News, Pompeo also alleged that TikTok was among those “feeding data directly to the Chinese Communist Party”.
China Daily in a post published on Tuesday said that Beijing would not give up against the theft of a Chinese technology firm. The state-sponsored paper which also favors a bias towards Communist Party in her editorial said the China had “plenty of ways to respond if the administration carries out its planned smash and grab”.
