U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a signing ceremony for the U.S.-China “phase-one” trade agreement in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020.
Zach Gibson | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Commerce Department announced Friday morning that it would ban U.S. business transactions with China-owned social apps WeChat and TikTok on Sunday.
The announcement comes as President Donald Trump was expected to announce whether or not the government will approve a deal for Oracle to take a minority stake in TikTok and become a “trusted technology partner” for the company in the U.S.
It’s unclear if the Commerce Department’s announcement means there’s no possibility of a deal going through before the deadline, and it could be an aggressive move from the Trump Administration to push for its original intention for TikTok to be fully owned by a U.S. company.
“At the President’s direction, we have taken significant action to combat China’s malicious collection of American citizens’ personal data, while promoting our national values, democratic rules-based norms, and aggressive enforcement of U.S. laws and regulations.” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement Friday.
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