President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday to ban transactions with eight Chinese software applications, including Ant Group’s Alipay, the White House said, escalating tensions with Beijing just over two weeks before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.
The move, first reported by Reuters, is intended to stem the threat to Americans posed by Chinese software applications, which have a large user base and access sensitive data, a senior official told Reuters.
The order states that the United States must take “aggressive measures” against developers of Chinese software applications to protect national security.
It instructs the Commerce department to determine which transactions will be banned within 45 days under the directive and also focuses on Tencent’s QQ Wallet and WeChat Pay. The order also mentions CamScanner, SHAREit, Tencent QQ, VMate and WPS Office.
A spokeswoman for Tencent of the US and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately comment.
“By accessing personal electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets and computers, Chinese connected software applications can access vast amounts of user information, including sensitive personally identifiable information and private information,” said the executive order.
Such data collection “would allow China to track the locations of federal employees and contractors and build records of personal information,” the document adds.
The order aims to bolster Trump’s legacy against China ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration of Biden, a Democrat, who has said little about how he plans to address specific technical threats from China.
However, Biden was able to withdraw 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 injunction is likely to further fuel tensions between Washington and Beijing, which are mired in a bitter dispute over the origin of the coronavirus and a Chinese crackdown on Hong Kong.
Despite the 45-day timeline set forth in the order, the Commerce Department plans to take action by Jan. 20 to identify prohibited transactions, another U.S. official told Reuters.
The directive echoes Trump’s executive orders signed in August ordering Commerce to block some US transactions with WeChat and the Chinese video app TikTok.
Had those orders taken effect, they would have effectively banned the use of the Chinese apps in the United States and prevented Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s app stores from offering them for download to new users.
However, the restrictions were blocked by courts, mainly on the grounds of freedom of expression. The White House is confident the new restrictions will withstand judicial scrutiny, as filings like Alipay would struggle to file a First Amendment case, the senior official told Reuters.
US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement that he supports Trump’s “pledge to protect the privacy and security of Americans from threats from the Chinese Communist Party.”
Alipay, Ant Group’s payment app, has been in the sights of Washington for months.
Reuters reported in November that the US State Department had submitted a proposal to add Ant Group to a blacklist to deter US investors from participating in its lucrative IPO. But the Department of Commerce, which oversees the blacklist, put the proposal aside after Michael Evans, president of Alibaba Group Holding Inc, urged Ross to reject the offer.
Ant is China’s dominant mobile payments company, offering loans, payments, insurance and wealth management through mobile apps. 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 string of tough new curbs for Chinese companies.
The White House unveiled an executive order in November banning US investments in alleged Chinese military companies, including China’s top chipmaker SMIC and oil giant CNOOC. Last month, the trade department added dozens of Chinese companies, including Chinese drone manufacturer SZ DJI Technology, to a blacklist.