WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration has ruled out plans to blacklist Chinese tech giants Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu, said four people familiar with the matter, providing a brief postponement to Beijing’s top corporations amid broader crackdown of Washington.
Still, Washington plans to move forward this week with an offer to add nine other Chinese companies to the list, one person said.
The decision to shelve plans to add Chinese tech giants is a blow to China’s government hawks, who seek to consolidate President Donald Trump’s harsh legacy towards China before his presidency ends on January 20.
Retailer Alibaba, search engine giant Baidu and video game leader Tencent, owner of the WeChat messaging app, were on the short list to be added to a catalog of alleged Chinese military companies, which would have put them under a new ban. of US investment.
But Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, widely seen as having a more dovish stance on China, backed down, freezing plans, people said. The companies, as well as the Treasury, State and Defense departments, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The abrupt decision highlights the deep divisions within the Trump administration over China’s policy, even as Trump seeks to arrest President-elect Joe Biden in aggressive stances against the world’s second largest economy.
Last month, the White House added China’s largest chip maker, SMIC, and oil giant CNOOC to the black list. Trump also revealed an executive order in January banning transactions in the United States with eight Chinese apps, including Ant Group’s Alipay. Both measures were first reported by Reuters.
While Trump touted a trade deal signed between rival nations, relations between Washington and Beijing soured last year with China’s treatment of the deadly coronavirus and its crackdown on freedoms in Hong Kong.
Reporting by Alexandra Alper and Humeyra Pamuk; Written by Alexandra Alper; Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal and Mike Stone; Editing by Leslie Adler and Howard Goller