WPS Office or WeChat Pay. Eight Chinese applications met the same fate as TikTok

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US President Donald Trump has signed a government decree banning transactions with eight Chinese software applications, including China's Alipay belonging to the Ant Group. This was stated by the Reuters agency with reference to the high representative of the government. Trump's decision further raises tensions between Washington and Beijing before newly elected President Joe Biden takes office this month.

The regulation gives the Ministry of Commerce the task of defining which transactions will be prohibited. It now takes 45 days to do so. However, according to the official, he plans to decide on the prohibited transactions by January 20, when Trump leaves office. In addition to Alipay, it focuses on QQ Wallet and WeChat from Tencent, among others.

The goal of this move is to suppress the threat posed to Americans by Chinese software applications, the official said. He pointed out that the applications have a wide user base and access to sensitive data.

The regulation gives the Ministry of Commerce the task of defining which transactions will be prohibited. It now takes 45 days to do so. However, according to the official, he plans to decide on the prohibited transactions by January 20, when Trump leaves office. In addition to Alipay, it focuses on QQ Wallet and WeChat from Tencent, among others.

The goal of this move is to suppress the threat posed to Americans by Chinese software applications, the official said. He pointed out that the applications have a wide user base and access to sensitive data.

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said in a statement that he supported Trump's commitment to protecting the privacy and security of Americans from the threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party. The regulation applies to Alipay, CamScanner, QQ Wallet, SHAREit, Tencent QQ, VMate, WeChat Pay and WPS Office.

According to another source, the regulation is similar to Trump's earlier action against the Chinese applications WeChat and TikTok. In September, the US Department of Commerce issued an order that, for national security reasons, the WeChat application must be withdrawn from US stores. However, shortly afterwards, the court issued an interim measure, which blocked the decision. Also in this case, there is a risk that a possible ban on transactions will go to court.

Alipay, like Tencent's WeChat platform, is used primarily by Chinese citizens with accounts in Chinese Yuan. Most connections with the United States are related to merchants who receive payments from Chinese tourists and businessmen in the country.