Donald Trump threatens to cut off TikTok if deal doesn't go through

Washington DC: US President Donald Trump has threatened to cut off TikTok if the popular Chinese video sharing app's tentative deal with two American companies Walmart and Oracle does not go through.

Trump has for weeks threatened to ban TikTok, which is owned by China's ByteDance, on national security grounds unless an American company takes control of its US operations. TikTok has roughly 100 million users in the US, and Trump says the app gives China access to the personal data of Americans.

Trump's latest remark came a day after he announced a possible deal between Oracle and Walmart to share the US operations of TikTok, which was placed on a ban list due to security concerns.

That's working its way through. I've given a preliminary okay, the president told reporters at the White House on Monday

They will work -- they're two great companies -- Oracle and Walmart. (Oracle CEO) Larry Ellison is a great genius at that kind of thing. The technology is incredible.

So if we can save it, we'll save it. And if we can't, we'll cut it off. But they have (a) preliminary (deal). We'll see what they can do. We have to have total security. That's the only thing -- very important. We have to have total security, Trump said in response to a question.

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy praised Trump for his move on TikTok.

He is standing up and keeping us safer by not allowing China to spy on Americans through their devices of TikTok and others, keeping the ability of Americans to use it, but keeping you safe, he told Fox News.