Huawei Curbs, TikTok/WeChat EOs Show 'Bold, Decisive Action' Against China: Ross

President Donald Trump's administration “is committed to bold, decisive action" against China that protects U.S. national and economic security interests, said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross during a Wednesday Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security virtual event. He cited BIS' additional export restrictions on Huawei (see 2008170043) and Trump’s Aug. 6 executive order banning U.S. transactions with the parent companies of TikTok and WeChat. TikTok parent ByteDance is suing the administration to block the EO (see 2008240047). The new restrictions on Huawei “directly impact” the company’s “ability to work through third parties to harness advanced U.S. technology to meet the Communist Party’s objectives, and they will level the playing field by ensuring that both U.S. and foreign companies must receive the Commerce Department license to sell covered products to Huawei, Ross said. He said the TikTok/WeChat ban is necessary because the app’s parent companies “are in China, and these mobile apps collect personal and proprietary information that constitutes possible threats to our national security, foreign policy and economy.” Some experts predict Trump’s re-election campaign will use the Huawei restrictions to depict him as tough on China (see 2008270051). Former National Security Adviser John Bolton, in The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, said Trump tried to use Huawei as leverage in the U.S.-China trade talks.