The Trump administration is privately seeking to reassure U.S. companies including Apple Inc. that they can still do business with the WeChat messaging app in China, according to several people familiar with the matter, two weeks after President Donald Trump ordered a U.S. ban on the Chinese-owned service.
In recent days, senior administration officials have been reaching out to some companies, realizing that the impact of an all-out ban on the popular app, 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.
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.
Representatives for Apple, Treasury and the White House declined to comment. A spokesperson for Tencent, which is one of China’s biggest companies, didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The administration is still working through the technical implications of how to enforce a partial ban on the app, and a key question is whether the White House would allow Apple and Alphabet Inc.’s Google to offer the app in their global app stores outside of the U.S., and if so, where, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Senior administration officials are deliberating over the scope of the ban ordered by Trump, one of the people said, and the president could ultimately overrule anything they decide.
The administration cited the national security risk of leaving Americans’ personal data exposed to China in announcing the ban earlier this month.
The officials expect that WeChat won’t completely vanish in the U.S., but their aim is to prohibit any downloads or updates of the app in the country, according to three of the people.
For example, travelers coming into the U.S. who have WeChat on their phones likely will be able to use the app, but they won’t be able to update it. That means that the WeChat version of a non-U.S. resident staying in the country for a longer period would probably become obsolete over time, the people said.
The Trump administration is privately seeking to reassure U.S. companies including Apple Inc. that they can still do business with the WeChat messaging app in China, according to several people familiar with the matter, two weeks after President Donald Trump ordered a U.S. ban on the Chinese-owned service.
