Trump brushes off TikTok national security concerns while calling for a 50% deal
During his Oval Office spray, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to postpone the ban on TikTok as he tries to find a way to keep the app active in the U.S. -- instructing the attorney general to delay the ban by 75 days.
The newly inaugurated president also shrugged off national security concerns about the social media app when pressed by reporters in the Oval Office on Monday evening.
"TikTok is worthless, worthless if I don't approve it, it has to close. I learned that from the people that own it. If I don't do the deal, it's worthless, worth nothing. If I do the deal, it's worth maybe a trillion dollars, a trillion," Trump said.
He continued to argue that there should be at least 50% U.S. ownership of the app, although he didn't make mention of the national security that prompted the app's ban in the first place. Trump notably called for a ban of the app due to national security during his first term.
"If I do the deal for the United States, then I think we should get half. In other words wait, I think the US should be entitled to get half of TikTok. And congratulations, TikTok has a good partner, and that would be worth, you know, could be $500 billion or something," Trump said.
Trump also continued to float the idea of a "joint venture," but didn't specify exactly what that means.
When asked whether the CEO of TikTok is open to that idea, Trump said that he is "around."
Trump also wrote off the concerns over the app sharing data with the Chinese government. "But remember, they make telephones in China. They make all sorts of things in China. Nobody ever complains about that. Here they're complaining about this, so many different products made in China, nobody ever complained about the only one they complain about is TikTok," Trump said.
When asked by a reporter in the room why he changed his mind about the app, Trump said it was because he got to use it and said that the U.S. has "bigger" concerns.
"Because I got to use it. And remember, TikTok is largely about kids, young kids. If China is going to get information about young kids out of it, to be honest, I think we have bigger problems than that," Trump said.
Notably, China sent its vice president, Han Zheng, to Trump's inauguration on Monday when the country has typically sent an ambassador in the past.
