The administration says the app is a national security concern.
NEW YORK — President Trump’s demand that the U. S. government get a cut from a potential Microsoft purchase of TikTok is the latest unprecedented scenario in an unprecedented situation. Microsoft is in talks to buy parts of TikTok, a forced sale after Trump threatened to ban the Chinese-owned video app, which claims 100 million U. S. users and hundreds of millions globally. The Trump administration says TikTok is a national security concern. How a ban would have worked was not clear; that federal authority has never been used before with a consumer app. TikTok denies that it would send U. S. user data to the Chinese government. Microsoft did not address a potential price when it confirmed the talks. Trump said Monday to reporters that the U. S. “should get a very large percentage of that price because we’re making it possible,” adding that “we want and we think we deserve to have a big percentage of that price coming to America, coming to the Treasury.” Trump sometimes floats ideas or actions that get set aside without follow-through. Appearing on the Fox Business Network Tuesday,White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow appeared to walk back the idea of a payment to the Treasury, saying “I don’t know if that’s a key stipulation.” TikTok was under review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known as CFIUS, a U. S. government group chaired by the Treasury Secretary that studies mergers for national-security reasons, for its acquisition of another video app, Musical.ly, in 2017. The president can approve or disapprove a transaction recommended by the interagency panel. CFIUS collects filing fees, but those top out at $300,000. “I doubt that’s what Trump has in mind,” said Hal Singer, an antitrust expert and managing director at consulting firm Econ One.
