The US Commerce Department is looking to issue an order that will bar people from downloading Chinese-owned applications like TikTok and WeChat starting 20 September, Reuters reported.
The report also says that the ban on the new downloads of TikTok in the US could still be rescinded by President Donald Trump, before the actual ban takes effect on Sunday.
Currently, TikTok owner ByteDance is scampering in search of an agreement that can help sustain its business in the country.
The report said that the ban on both the apps is in response to the executive orders issued by Trump, on 6 August, in which the Commerce Department had 45 days to determine what transactions to block from the apps which were deemed to pose a threat to national security.
That deadline expires on Sunday.
On 14 September, the US government had received a bid from Oracle for TikTok’s US operations after ByteDance rejected Microsoft’s proposal.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the Oracle bid will be handled by a government panel that reviews foreign transactions for national security concerns.
A senior Commerce Department official told Reuters that it will ask Apple and Google to remove the Chinese apps from their respective app stores and also from any other platforms that can have the apps on them.
The order will not ban US companies from doing business on WeChat outside of the US, which will be a sign of relief for multiple US organisations like Walmart, Starbucks, etc that are currently operating in China.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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