'I would be, if he wanted to buy,' US president tells reporters on first full day of his second term in office
US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he is open to tech billionaire Elon Musk buying TikTok.
"I would be, if he wanted to buy," Trump told reporters in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on the first full day of his second term in office, when asked whether he is open to Musk buying the short-video sharing app.
Trump said he met with the owners of TikTok.
"What I'm thinking about saying to somebody is buy it and give half to the United States of America. Half, and we'll give you the permit. And they'll have a great partner, the United States," he said.
"So what I'm saying is, let the United States give the permit, and the United States should get half. Sounds reasonable," he added.
Trump signed an executive order Monday in an attempt to delay a ban of the popular app for 75 days.
According to the order, he is pursuing a resolution that protects national security while saving a platform used by 170 million Americans.
"I think the US should be entitled to get half of TikTok," he told reporters while signing executive orders after returning to the Oval Office. He said TikTok could be worth a trillion dollars.
"Essentially with TikTok, I have the right to sell it or close it, and we'll make that determination, and we may have to get an approval from China too. I'm not sure, but I'm sure they'll approve it," he said.
He also said his administration will work on "a joint venture" between the US and undisclosed other entities.
"I think you have a lot of people that would be interested in TikTok with the United States as a partner," he added.
On Friday, the US Supreme Court upheld a law that would ban TikTok unless its Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance, divests from the app.
After going offline earlier Sunday, TikTok announced that it was in the process of restoring services to its US users following assurances from Trump.
