Trump flips on TikTok, urges big U.S. sales cut

Trump flips on TikTok, urges big U.S. sales cut

[NFA] Just a few days after President Donald Trump said he was considering banning China's TikTok in the United States, Trump reversed course on Monday, saying the U.S. should receive a "substantial portion" of the sales price.

Gavino Garay has more.

U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly reversed course on TikTok on Monday... Just a few days after he said he was planning on banning the China-owned video app in the U.S, Trump on Monday said the U.S. government should get a "substantial" cut of the sales price of the U.S. operations of the company.

He warned he will ban the service in the United States on September 15 without a sale.

TikTok is valued at about $50 billion, according to some investors.

TRUMP: "I did say that if you buy it, whatever the price is that goes to whoever owns it, because I guess it's China essentially … I said 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." It was not clear how the U.S. government would receive part of the purchase price.

Trump's comments confirmed a Reuters report Sunday that he had agreed to give China's ByteDance 45 days to negotiate a sale of popular short-video app TikTok to Microsoft.

U.S. officials have said TikTok poses a national security risk because of the personal data it handles.