WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration has scrapped plans to blacklist Chinese tech giants Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu, said four people familiar with the matter, offering a brief reprieve to Beijing’s top companies amid of wider Washington oppression.
Senior officials in the government had been considering plans to add the companies to a list of alleged Chinese military companies, subjecting them to a new US investment ban.
But Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, widely believed to take a more moderate stance on China, pushed back and froze plans, the people said. Still, the Trump administration plans to go ahead with a bid this week to add as many as nine other Chinese companies to the list, one said.
The Treasury and State Departments and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The abrupt decision casts great relief on the deep divisions within Washington over China policy, even as outgoing President Donald Trump tries to bolster his tough China legacy and entice President-elect Joe Biden into aggressive measures against the world’s second largest economy.
Last month, the White House added China’s top chipmaker, SMIC, and oil giant CNOOC to the blacklist, as first reported by Reuters. Trump also unveiled an executive order in January banning US transactions with eight Chinese apps, including Ant Group’s Alipay.
While Trump praised a trade deal between the rival nations, relations between Washington and Beijing had soured last year due to China’s handling of the deadly coronavirus and crackdown on freedoms in Hong Kong.
Reporting by Alexandra Alper and Humeyra Pamuk; Written by Alexandra Alper; Adaptation by Chizu Nomiyama and Leslie Adler