Alibaba, other firms could face US action
WASHINGTON:US President Donald Trump has said he could exert pressure on more Chinese companies such as technology giant Alibaba after he moved to ban Tiktok.
Asked at a news conference on Saturday whether there were other particular China-owned companies he was considering a ban on, such as Alibaba, Trump replied: “Well, we’re looking at other things, yes.”
Trump has been piling pressure on Chinese-owned companies, such as by vowing to ban short-video app Tiktok from the US. The United States ordered its Chinese owner Bytedance on Friday to divest the US operations of Tiktok within 90 days, the latest effort to ramp up pressure over concerns about the safety of the personal data it handles. Trump, who has made changing the Us-china trade relationship a central theme of his presidency, has been sharply critical of China while also praising its purchases of agriculture products such as soybeans and corn as part of a trade agreement reached late last year.
Trump now has a verified account on Tiktok competitor Triller, another sign of the White House’s disfavour toward the video-sharing app.
Triller is one of several Tiktok alternatives that have experienced a surge of downloads since Trump signed an executive order on August 6 that would prohibit certain transactions with Tiktok unless Bytedance divests it within 45 days. Trump on Friday ordered Bytedance to divest the US operations of Tiktok within 90 days.