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US Government Backing Off All-Out Ban on WeChat
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Senior administration officials have been reaching out to companies, realizing that the impact of an all-out ban on WeChat owned by China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd., could be devastating for U.S. technology, retail, gaming, telecommunications and other industries, people familiar with the discussions said. They have been privately reassuring U.S. companies including Apple Inc. that they can use the messaging app after President Donald Trump ordered a U.S. ban on the Chinese-owned service.
Apple is one of the companies that could stand to lose the most from the WeChat ban because China represents a fifth of its sales. Apple also relies on China for a large chunk of its manufacturing, which could be impacted if the Chinese government decided to retaliate. A partial WeChat ban could mean that companies like Apple could offer it in their China app stores and businesses like Starbucks Corp. could continue to sell coffee or accept payment via the app in China. The intention is to prohibit any downloads or updates of the WeChat app from U.S. app stores, two of the people said.