Senior U.S. officials had been considering plans to add the companies to a list of alleged Chinese military companies, which would have subjected them to a U.S. investment ban.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has canceled plans to blacklist Chinese tech giants Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu, four people familiar with the Reuters news agency reported. ‘issue, which gave brief recognition to Beijing’s major corporations amid wider Washington repression.
Senior government officials had been considering plans to add the companies to a list of alleged Chinese military companies, which would have subjected them to a new investment ban in the US.
But Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who is widely regarded as a more obvious position on China, pushed back and froze plans, people said. Still, the Trump administration plans to move forward this week with a desire to add up to nine Chinese companies to the list, one of the people said.
The State and Treasury Department and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The abrupt decision relieves deep divisions within Washington over China’s policy, even when outgoing President Trump wants to consolidate his tough legacy against China and lock up President-elect Joe Biden in aggressive measures against the second largest economy in the world.
Last month, the White House blacklisted China’s leading chip maker SMIC and oil giant CNOOC, Reuters first reported. Trump also unveiled an executive order in January banning U.S. transactions with eight Chinese apps, including Ant Group’s Alipay.
While Trump was promoting a trade deal signed between rival nations, relations between Washington and Beijing were exacerbated last year by China’s handling of the deadly coronavirus and its crackdown on freedoms in Hong Kong.