President Trump signed a new executive order banning transactions with the companies behind eight Chinese apps, including Antip Alipay and Tencent’s QQ and WeChat Pay. Transactions will be prohibited in 45 days. Reuters was the first to report the news.
The complete list of applications includes: Alipay, CamScanner, QQ Wallet, SHAREit, Tencent QQ, VMate, WeChat Pay and WPS Office.
US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross confirmed that the Department of Commerce “will begin to implement EO guidelines, including the identification of prohibited transactions”. Reuters reports that the Commerce Department will do this before Trump leaves office on January 20, citing an unidentified employee.
The new orders follow two previous ones in August, which were already trying to ban transactions with ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, and WeChat. However, a judge blocked the WeChat ban in September and again in October, while a judge granted an injunction preventing the ban on TikTok in December.
If the US succeeds in banning these apps, this could be a big deal, especially for Sino-American families who use these apps to communicate online.
Updated January 5, 7:09 pm Eastern Time: Changes made to reflect the order being published.