U.S. Commerce Department rescinds TikTok, WeChat prohibited transactions
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[June 22, 2021]
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S Commerce
Department said Monday it was rescinding a list of prohibited
transactions with TikTok and WeChat that were issued in September as the
Trump administration sought to block new U.S. downloads of both
Chinese-owned apps.
The withdrawals came after President Joe Biden this month withdrew a
series of Trump-era executive orders that sought to ban new downloads of
Tencent-owned WeChat and TikTok, and ordered a Commerce Department
review of security concerns posed by those apps and others.
During Donald Trump's presidency, the Commerce Department had also
sought to ban other transactions that would have effectively banned
WeChat's use in the United States and later sought similar restrictions
that would have barred TikTok's use.
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The department did not immediately comment.
China's foreign ministry described the move as "a positive step."
"China has been urging the U.S. side to respect market economy
principles and international trade rules, to immediately stop stretching
the concept of national security and stop wantonly abusing state power
to suppress China's tech companies," spokesman Zhai Lijian said on
Tuesday in Beijing.
The Biden order directed the Commerce Department to monitor software
applications like TikTok that could affect U.S. national security, as
well as to make recommendations within 120 days to protect U.S. data
acquired or accessible by companies controlled by foreign adversaries.
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A reflection of the U.S. flag is seen on the signs of the WeChat and
TikTok apps in this illustration picture taken September 19, 2020.
REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration
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WeChat, which has been downloaded at least 19 million
times by U.S. users, is widely used as a medium for services, games
and payments.
Biden's executive order revokes the WeChat and TikTok orders Trump
issued in August, along with another in January that targeted eight
other communications and financial technology software applications.
The January Trump order directed officials to ban transactions with
eight Chinese apps, including Ant Group's Alipay and Tencent's QQ
Wallet and WeChat pay. No bans have been issued to date.
The Trump administration had appealed judicial orders blocking the
bans on TikTok and WeChat, but after Biden took office in January,
the U.S. Justice Department asked to pause the appeals.
A separate U.S. national security review of TikTok, launched in late
2019, remains active.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; additional reporting by Cate Cadell
in Beijing, Editing by Nick Zieminski and Timothy Heritage)
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