BUSINESS/SOCIAL MEDIA: “I told Microsoft — and, frankly, others — if they want to do it, if they make a deal for TikTok — whether it’s the 30 percent in the United States or the whole company, I say, ‘It’s okay. But if you do that, we’re really making it possible because we’re letting you operate here.’
So the United States Treasury would have to benefit also, not just the sellers… Very simple. I mean we have all the cards because, without us, you can’t come into the United States. It’s like if you’re a landlord, and you have a tenant. The tenant’s business needs a rent; it needs a lease. And so what I said to them is, ‘Whatever the price is, a very big proportion of that price would have to go to the Treasury of the United States.'”
-Donald Trump, “Remarks by President Trump in Press Briefing | August 4, 2020,” whitehouse.gov, Aug. 4, 2020