President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order banning transactions with eight Chinese software applications, including the Alipay Ant Group, the White House said, escalating tensions with Beijing just over two weeks before President-elect Joe Biden took office.
The measure, first reported by Reuters, aims to reduce the threat to Americans posed by Chinese software applications, which have large user bases and access to sensitive data, a senior government official told Reuters.
The order argues that the United States must take “aggressive measures” against Chinese software developers to protect national security.
He instructs the Department of Commerce to define the transactions that will be banned under the directive within 45 days and also targets the QQ Tencent and WeChat Pay wallets. The command also calls CamScanner, SHAREit, Tencent QQ, VMate and WPS Office.
A US spokeswoman for Tencent and the Chinese Embassy in Washington did not comment immediately.
“By accessing personal electronic devices, such as smartphones, tablets and computers, Chinese connected software applications can access and capture a wealth of information from users, including sensitive personally identifiable information and private information,” the executive said. .
Such data collection “would allow China to track the locations of federal employees and contractors and create files with personal information,” the document added.
The order aims to strengthen Trump’s tough legacy ahead of the inauguration of Biden, a Jan. 20 Democrat, who has said little about how he intends to address specific technical threats in China.
However, Biden was able to revoke the order on the first day of his presidency, although his transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.
The order is likely to increase tensions between Washington and Beijing, which have been embroiled in a bitter dispute over the origins of the coronavirus and Chinese repression of Hong Kong.
Despite the 45-day deadline set by order, the Commerce Department plans to act before Jan. 20 to identify the banned transactions, another U.S. official told Reuters.
The directive reflects Trump’s executive orders signed in August, which directed Commerce to block some US transactions with WeChat and the video application owned by China TikTok.
If these orders came into force, it would effectively prohibit the use of Chinese applications in the United States and would prohibit Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc. application stores from downloading them to new users.
However, the restrictions were blocked by the courts, mainly for reasons of freedom of expression. The White House is confident that the new restrictions will withstand judicial scrutiny, as applications such as Alipay would struggle to bring a First Amendment case, a senior administration official told Reuters.
US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said in a statement that he supported “Trump’s commitment to protecting the privacy and security of Americans from the threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party.”
Alipay, the Ant Group payment application, has been in Washington for months.
Reuters reported in November that the US State Department had submitted a proposal to add Ant Group to a commercial blacklist to discourage US investors from taking part in its initial public offering. But the Department of Commerce, which oversees the blacklist, rejected the proposal after Alibaba Group Holding Inc. chairman Michael Evans urged Ross to reject the offer.
Ant is the dominant mobile payment company in China, offering loans, payments, insurance and asset management services through mobile applications. It is 33% owned by Alibaba and controlled by Alibaba founder Jack Ma, but is not currently available to US users.
Tuesday’s move is the latest in a series of tough new curbs for Chinese companies.
The White House unveiled an executive order in November banning US investment in alleged Chinese military companies, including China’s largest SMIC chip maker and oil giant CNOOC. Last month, the Commerce Department added dozens of Chinese companies, including Chinese drone manufacturer SZ DJI Technology, to a commercial blacklist.