President Donald Trump imposed bans on U.S. transactions with China's ByteDance, owner of TikTok, and Tencent, operator of WeChat and Asia's second-biggest company by market capitalization.
The U.S President called TikTok and WeChat "significant threats to American citizens" before announcing the ban, which will go into effect in 45 days. Both apps had previously come under fire from U.S lawmakers over security concerns surrounding data collection.
Trump issued the order on Thursday under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a law that grants the power to prohibit U.S. firms or citizens from conducting financial transactions with sanctioned companies.
Tencent
is China's second-biggest company after Alibaba. Following the ban, its shares dropped
by almost 10% in Hong Kong. The Asian markets fell as well, with HongKong45
falling 2% and Japan225
shedding 0,6%.
Source: investing.com
