Following this week’s announcement that TikTok and other Chinese apps like WeChat would be banned from the United States, Donald Trump today signed an executive order to officially ban transactions with Chinese companies ByteDance and Tencent.
Trump wants to ban apps and services that are based in China, which is the case of ByteDance’s TikTok and Tencent’s WeChat. He signed an executive order on Thursday that bans not only these two apps in the US, but also any transactions with its parent companies.
The orders mention the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the National Emergencies Act, which claim that these Chinese apps represent a threat to national security. Both orders will take effect in 45 days.
As pointed out by Engadget, the banishment of these companies may represent bigger problems for a number of popular apps besides TikTok and WeChat. Tencent, for instance, is the largest investor behind US companies such as Riot Games and Epic Games, which are respectively responsible for the League of Legends and Fortnite franchises.
In the meantime, Microsoft has confirmed that the company is interested in buying TikTok’s operations. While Microsoft initially expressed interest in acquiring only US operations, a recent Financial Times report stated that the company is now considering buying TikTok’s global business.
Microsoft expects to have a final decision on the TikTok acquisition by September 15. If negotiations are not completed, the Chinese social network will be banned from the United States only a few days after this deadline.
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