Trump blocks China takeover

DONALD Trump’s administration has blocked another major Chinese firm from taking over a US company, following concerns about security.

Ant Financial, considered the world’s most valuable financial technology firm, was prevented from creating an £888m merger with US-based money transfer service MoneyGram. A White House committee blocked the deal, said to be over concerns about the safety of data that can be used to identify US citizens. Last year, a takeover of US tech firm Lattice Semiconductor by Chinese-backed Canyon Bridge, was blocked for security reasons.

The failure is a major setback for Jack Ma, of social media giant Alibaba, which owns Ant Financial.