Trump Hedges on Banning ‘National Security Threat’ TikTok

Banning TikTok might only make “the enemy of the people” Facebook more influential, former President Donald Trump said Monday.

While noting that “I do believe” TikTok to be a national security threat, Trump told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that banning it raises other issues, given its popularity in the U.S.

“I do believe it, and we have to very much admit we are protecting American people’s privacy and data rights,” he added.

“I was at the point where I could have gotten it done if I wanted to. I should have said, you guys decide, you make that decision because there are a lot of people who talk that love it.

“There are a lot of young kids on TikTok who will go crazy without it. There are a lot of users.”

Also, Trump warned, banning TikTok woould deliver more monopolistic power to Facebook.

“There’s a lot of good and there’s a lot of bad with TikTok, but the thing I don’t like is that without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people along with a lot of the media,” Trump said.

Trump laid out some of his financial priorities Monday and defended his planned 10% across-the-board tariffs, saying any resulting price increase for families could be offset by tax cuts and calling for his 2017 tax cuts to be extended.

Trump also called for action on popular U.S. entitlement programs, including cuts, and indicated he was not likely to curb use of cryptocurrencies.

Asked about concerns over increased political polarization on the nation’s financial stability, Trump said he was concerned about but dismissed the credit rating downgrade’s ties to the Jan. 6 Capitol protest.

Trump’s comments are his first extended remarks on his economic plans since he became the party’s likely nominee following last week’s “Super Tuesday” primary elections, setting up a rematch with Democrat President Joe Biden in November.

His tariff plan has spurred talk of inflation, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said it would raise costs for American consumers.

“I think taxes could be cut, I think other things could happen to more than adjust that, but I’m a big believer in tariffs,” Trump told CNBC, saying they help American industries when they are “being taken advantage of” by China and other nations.

“Beyond the economics, it gives you power in dealing with other countries,” he said, adding that he was not concerned about any possible retaliatory tariffs if he were to regain the White House.

Asked about Medicare, Social Security, and Medicare programs and the nation’s spending and deficits, Trump told CNBC: “There is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements in terms of cutting and in terms of also the theft and the bad management.”

On bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Trump said he has “seen that there has been a lot of use of that. And I’m not sure that I’d want to take it away.”

Information from Reuters was used in this report.