Alipay and WeChat Pay Bans a Political Minefield

Trump’s Alipay and WeChat Pay ban is nothing more than a political maneuver to claim “Biden is soft on China” when the executive order is revoked.

Cynical and sad but that’s the way it is.

What is important to note is that there are no specific allegations of data breaches by any of these companies. The administration is claiming that the Chinese government -might- have access to the data just as they claimed with TikTok and WeChat bans that were overturned in court.   Where’s the proof?

The courts ruled that TikTok and WeChat could not be banned based on freedom of speech arguments, as these are payment apps other tactics will likely be applied.

You would also be hard-pressed to find many federal employees with these apps on their phone, which was the stated reason for the ban. So this is clearly stretching the concept of national security to lash out at Chinese companies.

Disaster for US companies in China.

What is important is that US companies in China could be cut off from these payment apps which would be a disaster. This is terrible news for US companies operating in China who would be unable to sell their products without Alipay and Wechat pay which cover some 83 % of the payment market and 94% of the mobile market.

The potential damage they could cause to the likes of Apple, Disney, and Nike US companies with significant operations in China that rely on these services is significant.