Global Times recently reported that the U.S. presidential order to ban TikTok and WeChat in 45 days has triggered U.S. domestic concerns on damages it can cause to U.S. product sales in the Chinese market. For example, Bloomberg had a report expressing the worry that the Trump ban on all transactions related to WeChat may disallow Apple from offering WeChat in its AppStore. As most people know, WeChat has penetrated very deeply into the day-to-day life of the Chinese population. It is the top app that over one billion people use widely for shopping, payments, and other daily activities in commerce and gaming. Without being able to download WeChat from its AppStore, Chinese consumers may not want to buy an iPhone any more. The Chinese market takes 20 percent of the iPhone’s total sales. Losing WeChat can be a big obstacle for Apple to sell iPhones. Additionally, Trump’s order may cause retaliation from the Chinese government on the sides of manufacturing capacity and raw material supply (like rare earth metals). Huawei cellphones may turn out to benefit from this new ban.
Source: Global Times, August 8, 2020
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