Trump Push for TikTok Fee Confounds Washington Security Experts
- Laws don’t give Trump authority to seek commission on sale
- President likens government’s cut of any sale to ‘key money’
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President Donald Trump insists that any sale of the TikTok video app include a cut for the federal government, yet that demand has baffled policy experts and lawyers who say such a payment would stretch his authority under U.S. law.
The fee has emerged as an unusual sideshow in the administration’s effort to pressure China’s ByteDance Ltd. to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations to an American owner over national security concerns. Since calling for the sale last month, Trump has repeatedly said he would like the U.S. to be “well compensated” from the transaction.