14 DAY TRIAL // The United States President Donald Trump has recently signed an executive order to ban WeChat due to privacy concerns, and the decision comes after the White House administrator took similar measures against a series of other Chinese services and companies.
This time, however, American firms are all requesting the U.S. President to undo the ban, especially as the decision could have devastating effects on their business.
Apple, Intel, and several other companies that aren’t involved in the tech field, including even Ford and Walmart, have reached out to the Trump administration to seek clarification on the new sanctions, hoping that if the ban goes through, to only affect the American market or, in the worst-case scenario, the international version of WeChat.
But what these companies want is the Chinese edition of WeChat to continue to operate normally, something that would allow them to keep their businesses unaffected in China.
The White House administration hasn’t specifically mentioned whether the WeChat ban concerns only the United States or global markets too, but more information should be offered by the time the new sanctions come into effect.
Massive drop in China sales
In the meantime, analysts provide us with a closer look at how catastrophic a WeChat ban in China would be for American companies.
Apple no longer being allowed to offer the WeChat app in China could lead to a drop in iPhone sales of up to 30 percent, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo warned. A recent survey also revealed that more than 90 percent of iPhone users in the country are ready to give up on the Apple brand completely if WeChat can no longer run on their devices.
For now, the United States President seems to be very committed to banning WeChat completely, but it’s the lack of specifics on these sanctions the one that’s causing concerns for everybody.
The WeChat ban was officially announced on August 7, with the new order to come into effect in 45 days after being signed by the President.