Trump Imposes US Ban on WeChat, TikTok in 45 Days

US President Donald Trump declared Thursday broad bans on US transactions with China's ByteDance, creator of the TikTok video-sharing site, and Tencent, the operator of the WeChat site, beginning in 45 days, in a significant escalation of tensions with Beijing.

Executive orders come as the Trump administration said this week it was speeding up attempts to remove "untrusted" Chinese applications from US digital networks and named the Chinese-owned TikTok quick video app and WeChat messaging app "important risks."

Tiktok, the immensely successful video-sharing app, has come under pressure from U.S. politicians and the U.S. government regarding national data collection protections, in the wake of heightened friction between Washington and Beijing, reports Reuters.

Trump issued orders under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a law that gives the administration sweeping power to bar US firms or citizens from trading or conducting financial transactions with sanctioned parties.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday, expanding efforts on the Clean Network program would focus on five areas and include steps to prevent various Chinese apps, as well as Chinese telecommunications companies, from accessing sensitive information about American citizens and businesses.

The latest move comes soon after the US ordered China to vacate its consulate in Houston, Texas followed by China’s order requiring the US to vacate its consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu.

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will identify transactions covered by the prohibition after the order takes effect in mid-September. The order leaves key unanswered questions about the restrictions.

James Lewis, a technology expert with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said the moves appeared coordinated with Pompeo’s Wednesday announcement.

“This is the rupture in the digital world between the U.S. and China,” he said. “Absolutely, China will retaliate.”

Lewis said there are only about 3.0 million WeChat users in the United States and they are mostly Chinese.

“It’s much more a collection risk than TikTok. On the other hand, it is collecting on Chinese,” Lewis said.

Tencent shares fell 4.0 percent on the news.

Trump said this week he would support the sale of TikTok’s US operations to Microsoft Corp if the US government got a “substantial portion” of the sales price but nevertheless said he will ban the service in the United States on September 15.

There are 100 million TikTok users in the United States and Republicans have raised concerns about the political fallout of banning the popular app in the United States.

The TikTok app may be used for disinformation campaigns that benefit the Chinese Communist Party, and the United States “must take aggressive action against the owners of TikTok to protect our national security,” Trump said in one order.

On the other, Trump said WeChat “automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users. This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information.”

The order would effectively ban WeChat in the United States within 45 days, barring "to the extent permitted under applicable law, any transaction involving WeChat by any person or in respect of any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with Tencent Holdings Ltd."

Tencent and ByteDance refused to respond.