Trump's TikTok, WeChat EOs Will 'Boomerang' Against US, Warn Chinese
China "firmly opposes" the executive orders President Donald Trump signed Thursday banning U.S. transactions with the parent companies of TikTok and WeChat beginning Sept. 20. The U.S., "under the pretext of national security, has time and again used state power…
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to wantonly oppress non-U.S. companies, nothing short of bullying," said a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Friday. "All this will boomerang." The “spread” of mobile apps developed and owned by companies in China “continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” Trump wrote House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Thursday in separate letters addressing the alleged WeChat and TikTok threats. Both automatically capture “vast swaths of information from its users,” giving the “Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information,” said Trump. TikTok said it was “shocked” by the EO, which it said was issued “without any due process.” The company said it tried to negotiate with the U.S. government for about a year to address U.S. concerns. “What we encountered instead was that the Administration paid no attention to facts, dictated terms of an agreement without going through standard legal processes, and tried to insert itself into negotiations between private businesses,” it said. TikTok also said it has never shared user data with the Chinese government. “We will pursue all remedies available to us in order to ensure that the rule of law is not discarded and that our company and our users are treated fairly -- if not by the Administration, then by the US courts,” the company said. A spokesperson for WeChat parent Tencent said the company is “reviewing the executive order to get a full understanding.”