The move follows Trump’s order banning U.S. investments in Chinese companies allegedly linked to the Chinese army.
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is initiating the delisting process of three Chinese telecommunications companies, China Telecom Corporation Limited, China Mobile Limited and China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited, it said in a statement.
The move comes after US President Donald Trump unveiled an executive order in November banning US investments in Chinese companies that Washington says are owned or controlled by the Chinese military, which could affect some of the largest companies in the country. China.
The November executive order sought to enforce a 1999 law that required the Department of Defense to compile a list of Chinese military companies. The Pentagon, which fulfilled the mandate just this year, has so far appointed 35 companies, including oil company CNOOC Ltd and China’s largest chip maker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.
Each of the NYSE-nominated telecommunications companies also has a listing in Hong Kong.
The NYSE said the issuers were no longer suitable for listing, as the order prohibits any transactions in securities “intended to provide investment exposure to such securities, from any Chinese Communist military company, by anyone in the United States”.
The NYSE said it would suspend trading on January 7 or 11. Issuers have the right to review the decision.
Ties between Washington and Beijing have become increasingly antagonistic in the past year, as the world’s top two economies argued over how Beijing handled the coronavirus outbreak, the imposition of a national security law in Hong Kong and increased tensions in the South China Sea.