Chinese Payment Apps Hit by Trump Ban

Ant Group’s Alipay, Tencent Holdings’ QQ Wallet and WeChat pay are among the apps banned by executive order.

Tensions between Washington and Beijing are set to rise with the latest executive order from U.S. President Donald Trump, which bans transactions with eight Chinese software applications.

The move is aimed at curbing the threat to Americans posed by Chinese software applications, which have large user bases and access to sensitive data, citing a senior administration official.

According to the order, the U.S. must take «aggressive action» against developers of Chinese software applications to protect national security.

In October 2020, the U.S. State Department submitted a proposal to add Ant Group to a trade blacklist to deter U.S. investors from taking part in its lucrative initial public offering. The proposal was ultimately rejected. Trump has also previously tried to block some U.S. transactions with WeChat and the Chinese-owned video app TikTok.

U.S. president-elect Joe Biden is set to be inaugurated on January 20, though his stance on China is still unclear.