At the verge of tenure end, U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order banning transactions with eight Chinese software applications, including Ant Group’s Alipay, the White House said, which increases tensions with Beijing before President-elect Joe Biden takes office this month. The order, reported by a newsagency, tasks the Commerce Department with defining which transactions will be banned under the directive and targets Tencent Holdings Ltd’s QQ Wallet and WeChat Pay as well. 

A senior official told, the move is aimed at curbing the threat to Americans posed by Chinese software applications, which have large user bases and access to sensitive data. The ban order signed by the President also names CamScanner, SHAREit, Tencent QQ, VMate and WPS Office and says “the United States must take aggressive action against those who develop or control Chinese connected software applications to protect our national security.” 

Another official told news agency that even though the order gave the Commerce Department 45 days to act the department plans to act before January 20 when Trump leaves office to identify prohibited transactions. The order says, “by accessing personal electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, and computers, Chinese connected software applications can access and capture vast swaths of information from users, including sensitive personally identifiable information and private information", adding the data collection “would permit China to track the locations of federal employees and contractors, and build dossiers of personal information.” However, the Chinese embassy in US did not respond. 

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