President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order banning transactions with eight Chinese software applications, including Ant Group’s Alipay, the White House said, raising tensions with Beijing just over two weeks before the president elect Joe Biden took possession.
The move, first reported by Reuters, aims to curb the threat to Americans representing Chinese software applications, which have large user bases and access to sensitive data, a senior told Reuters. administration official.
The order argues that the United States must take “aggressive measures” against Chinese software application developers to protect national security.
It instructs the Department of Commerce to define the transactions that will be prohibited under the directive within 45 days and also guides Tencent’s QQ Wallet and WeChat Pay. The command also names CamScanner, SHAREit, Tencent QQ, VMate and WPS Office.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Tencent and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not comment immediately.
“By accessing personal electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets and computers, Chinese connected software applications can access and capture large expanses of user information, including confidential personally identifiable information and private information,” he says. ‘executive order.
This data collection “would allow China to track the location of federal employees and contractors and create personal information dossiers,” the document adds.
The order aims to consolidate Trump’s tough legacy against China ahead of the January 20 inauguration of Biden, a Democrat, who has said little about how he plans to deal with specific technological threats from China.
Biden, however, was able to revoke the order on the first day of his presidency, although his transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.
The order is likely to escalate tensions between Washington and Beijing, which have been locked in a bitter dispute over the origins of the coronavirus and Chinese crackdown on Hong Kong.
Despite the 45-day deadline set by the order, the Commerce Department plans to act before Jan. 20 to identify the prohibited transactions, another U.S. official told Reuters.
The directive reflects Trump’s executive orders signed in August to direct Commerce to block some U.S. transactions with WeChat and the Chinese-owned video app TikTok.
If these orders went into effect, they would have banned the use of Chinese apps in the U.S. and would have banned Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc. app stores from offering them for download for new users.
However, the restrictions were blocked by the courts mainly for reasons of freedom of expression. The White House is confident the new restrictions will withstand judicial scrutiny, as applications such as Alipay will fight to file a First Amendment case, a senior administration official told Reuters.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said in a statement that he supports Trump’s “commitment to protecting the privacy and security of Americans from threats from the Chinese Communist Party.”
Alipay, Ant Group’s payment app, has been in Washington for months.
Reuters reported in November that the U.S. State Department had submitted a proposal to add Ant Group to a commercial blacklist to deter U.S. investors from participating in its lucrative initial public offering. But the Commerce Department, which oversees the blacklist, dropped the proposal after Alibaba Group Holding Inc. chairman Michael Evans urged Ross to turn down the offer.
Ant is China’s dominant mobile payment company offering loans, payments, insurance and asset management services through mobile applications. It is 33% owned by Alibaba and controlled by Alibaba founder Jack Ma, but is currently unavailable to American users.
Tuesday’s move is the latest in a series of difficult new fringes for Chinese companies.
The White House released an executive order in November banning U.S. investment in alleged Chinese military companies, including top chip maker SMIC and oil giant CNOOC. Last month, the Commerce Department added dozens of Chinese companies, including Chinese drone maker SZ DJI Technology, to a commercial blacklist.