Trump Says TikTok Deal Off If ByteDance Keeps Control

A series of on again off again deals to acquire TikTok’s US operation hit another roadblock Monday courtesy of President Trump who said that TikTok must be fully in US control.

“They will have nothing to do with it, and if they do, we just won’t make the deal,” Trump told Fox fews, referring to TikTok owner ByteDance and a deal that reportedly see a 20% stake sold to Oracle and Walmart.

“It’s going to be controlled, totally controlled by Oracle, and I guess they’re going public and they’re buying out the rest of it — they’re buying out a lot, and if we find that they don’t have total control then we’re not going to approve the deal,” he said.

The US Commerce Department was set to restrict access to TikTok starting last Sunday with a ban on new downloads.

Unless a suitable deal was in place, on Nov. 12th it would prohibit any company from offering internet hosting or content delivery networks to TikTok, effectively shutting it down in the U.S.

MORE: TikTok’s Oracle, Walmart Deal Gets Trump ‘Blessing’ Despite China’s ByteDance Retaining 80%