While the order takes aim at prominant Chinese platforms, apps like WeChat Pay and Alipay have their biggest customer base in greater China and the number of users in the US is relatively small. — AFP
President Donald Trump signed an order banning US transactions with eight Chinese software apps including Ant Group Co’s Alipay in 45 days, when he’ll no longer be in office.
The order is the outgoing administration’s latest bid to use national security powers against China’s largest technology companies, but it will be up to President-elect Joe Biden to decide whether to enforce the policy. It also deals another blow to Ant co-founder Jack Ma, who hasn’t been seen in public since Chinese regulators halted Ant’s US$35bil (RM140.28bil) IPO and launched an antitrust probe into Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
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