President Donald Trump is apparently setting his sights on more Chinese companies, possibly including technology conglomerate Alibaba, after his administration’s actions against ByteDance’s TikTok and Huawei.
In a news conference, Trump was asked whether he is considering bans against more Chinese companies, including Alibaba. “Well, we’re looking at other things, yes,” the president replied, Reuters reported.
The White House did not provide further explanations to the president’s comment, according to the Financial Times, but it comes as Trump’s relationship with China continues to sour over the blame for the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and the alleged national security threats presented by the Chinese Communist Party.
Digital Trends has reached out to Alibaba for comments on the matter, including whether the company has received any communication from the U.S. government regarding possible actions. We will update this article as soon as we hear back.
Trump vs. Chinese companies
The Trump administration has previously gone after ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of video-sharing app TikTok, and smartphone manufacturer Huawei. Trump issued an executive order on Friday that gives ByteDance 90 days to sell the U.S. assets of TikTok, and also requires the destruction of all the user data acquired by the app and its predecessor Musical.ly. Meanwhile, the temporary license that allowed certain U.S. companies to do business with Huawei has expired, likely affecting the support that Google provides to Huawei’s Android-powered smartphones.
It remains to be seen if the current administration will indeed target other Chinese companies in the run-up to the national elections, as Trump seeks to remain in office against former vice president Joe Biden.
