Mobile apps provided by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA) The Ant Group, supported by (NYSE: BABA), will be banned by an executive order issued on Tuesday by outgoing President Donald Trump.
What happened: U.S. transactions with Ant Group’s Alipay, based in Hangzhou, China, which had more than 1.2 billion users worldwide in October 2019 according to Xinhua, will be banned.
The request will not take effect until Trump leaves office as it is scheduled to apply in 45 days.
Apps offered by Tencent Holdings Ltd (OTC: TCEHY), like Tencent QQ and WeChatPay, were also banned under the order, along with CamScanner, SHAREit, VMate and WPS Office.
The order highlighted the threats posed by Chinese applications, which could allow the Asian powerhouse to track the location of federal and contract employees and “build personal information files.”
Why it matters: Trump’s move is the latest setback for Alibaba, founded by Jack Ma, who is also facing an antitrust investigation in China.
See also: Chinese financial regulators order Ant Group to ‘review’ their business
Last August, Trump signed an executive order to ban ByteDance’s TikTok short-form video app unless his father agreed to sell the app.
Subsequently, a federal judge issued orders to lift the TikTok ban the following month.
Oracle Corp (NASDAQ: ORCL) and Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT) agreed to buy TikTok, before the court granted it.
According to the most recent reports, the Ant Group may be forced to divest part of its stock portfolio. Chinese regulators are also considering asking the fintech company to share consumer data, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
Share price: Alibaba’s shares were traded 2.08% lower at $ 235.40 in Tuesday’s trading session, after closing nearly 5.5% higher at $ 240.40.
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