Trump administration tells Apple that WeChat ban does not extend to China, report says

Posted:
in General Discussion edited August 2020
The Trump administration is reportedly reaching out to reassure American companies that their Chinese business dealings with messaging monolith WeChat will remain unaffected by a pending U.S. ban.

WeChat


Citing sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg on Friday reports senior administration officials seek to reassure companies that a coming WeChat ban will not negatively impact their dealings in China.

Instead of instituting a blanket ban on WeChat by forcing U.S. firms like Apple and Google to remove the app from their respective app stores, administration officials are reportedly working on ways to enforce more targeted restrictions. Details have yet to be hammered out, including how to implement a selective embargo on worldwide app stores.

Senior officials continue to discuss the scope of the ban, but Trump could overrule any decision that comes from the working group, the report said. Some officials believe WeChat will be allowed to operate within U.S. borders, for example by travelers, but the administration seeks to restrict updates and downloads of the app citing privacy concerns.

Earlier this month, Trump signed executive orders that effectively prohibit U.S. companies from doing business with WeChat and fellow Chinese-owned app TikTok. For Apple, and other companies that count China as a major contributor to their bottom line, the implications of banning the world's most popular messaging app are serious.

TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in a note to investors estimated global iPhone sales would fall by up to 30% should the ban apply to all regional App Stores.

"Since WeChat is very critical to Chinese users, integrating communications, payments, e-Commerce, social software, news reading, and productivity functions, we believe that the move will tank iPhone shipments in the Chinese market," Kuo said.

Kuo said a "best case scenario" would be a U.S.-only ban, in which case he sees global iPhone shipments declining by between 3% and 6%.

Apple last week joined Disney, Ford, Walmart and other major brands in a public call to nix the executive orders, saying the initiative would hurt U.S. companies that conduct business in China. The plea fell on deaf ears, as Trump a day later said "whatever" when asked if he was concerned about the negative impact the ban could have on iPhone sales.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,311member
    Stock manipulation. Trump threatens Apple so stock drops, people buy at low knowing Trump will say it doesn’t affect China usage. AAPL up 24 pts today. 
    edited August 2020 watto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 12
    rob53 said:
    Stock manipulation. Trump threatens Apple so stock drops, people buy at low knowing Trump will say it doesn’t affect China usage. AAPL up 24 pts today. 
    What LOW??!! Apple has been setting new highs this entire month. Trump never threatened Apple, he simply told the public that he would prevent a potentially malicious app from sending their data to the CCP. More importantly, Trump never said anything about WeChat use in China, he just wanted to ban it in the USA. And, "people ... knowing Trump will say it doesn’t affect China usage" is called being smart. Nothing illegal about that. 
    anantksundaramcastcoreSpamSandwichaderuttersuperklotonmwhitesvanstromwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 12
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,938member
    Everyone knew and obvious that Mr. Trump don't have leverage to extend WeChat or TikTok ban in China. 
    Dogpersonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 12
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Never considered for even one minute it wouldn’t be available to Apple customers outside the US. Ridiculous.
    spock1234watto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 12
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    castcore said:
    The only people who said Wechat would be banned in China are the Democrat reporters we hate America and the only people stupid enough to believe Trump would  ban an app from being used in China are the Democrat looters and rioters.
    🙄

    williamlondonITGUYINSDroundaboutnowGeorgeBMacwatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 12
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    Is it me, or does every figure tossed out about Apple always 30%

    It’s almost as if pundits are trying to embed the phrase “30%” into every Apple conversation. 🤔
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 12
    Rayz2016 said:
    Is it me, or does every figure tossed out about Apple always 30%

    It’s almost as if pundits are trying to embed the phrase “30%” into every Apple conversation. 🤔
    Didn’t you know? “30” is the new “666”.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 12
    castcore said:
    The only people who said Wechat would be banned in China are the Democrat reporters we hate America and the only people stupid enough to believe Trump would  ban an app from being used in China are the Democrat looters and rioters.
    I'll go out on a limb here, but I'd bet that you blame everything on Democrat looters and rioters these days.  Tell me, is every Democrat a looter and rioter, or are you saying just Democrats that are also looters and rioters are perpetuating this conspiracy theory (where have I heard that lately)?  
    viclauyycsvanstromGeorgeBMacricmac
  • Reply 9 of 12
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member
    Where, exactly, in the executive order does it say to "American companies that their Chinese business dealings with messaging monolith WeChat will remain unaffected by a pending U.S. ban"?

    I'll wait...
  • Reply 10 of 12
    john.b said:
    Where, exactly, in the executive order does it say to "American companies that their Chinese business dealings with messaging monolith WeChat will remain unaffected by a pending U.S. ban"?

    I'll wait...
    Why would it??!! The subject of the order was WeChat's operations in the US.

    The executive order also does not explicitly state that Apple can continue to sell iPhones in Timbuktu! Are you going to make something of that too? 
    edited August 2020 svanstromwatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 12
    castcore said:
    The only people who said Wechat would be banned in China are the Democrat reporters we hate America and the only people stupid enough to believe Trump would  ban an app from being used in China are the Democrat looters and rioters.
    Trump ban TSMC selling chip to Huawei because TSMC use American technology. Needless to say TSMC is a Taiwan company.

    I am pretty sure Apple use American tech to run the Chinese app. 

    It is fair to assume Donald will just ban WeChat to run on any apple device, even in other countries.
    edited August 2020 GeorgeBMac
  • Reply 12 of 12
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    viclauyyc said:
    castcore said:
    The only people who said Wechat would be banned in China are the Democrat reporters we hate America and the only people stupid enough to believe Trump would  ban an app from being used in China are the Democrat looters and rioters.
    Trump ban TSMC selling chip to Huawei because TSMC use American technology. Needless to say TSMC is a Taiwan company.

    I am pretty sure Apple use American tech to run the Chinese app. 

    It is fair to assume Donald will just ban WeChat to run on any apple device, even in other countries.

    Trump & his thugs start with their goal and work backwards to come up with evidence and rationale to justify it to their base.

    One could justify virtually anything using that method. 
Sign In or Register to comment.