Trump administration is considering curbs on payment apps by Ant Group and Tencent on ‘national security’ grounds
- Ant Group, an affiliate of this newspaper’s owner Alibaba Group Holding, said it’s “unaware of any such discussions within the administration”
- Tencent didn’t respond to request for comment
The Trump administration is exploring restrictions on billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Group as well as Tencent Holdings over concerns that their digital payment platforms threaten US national security, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that risks infuriating China and disrupting what could be the world’s largest initial public offering.
US officials are concerned that Ant Group and other Chinese fintech platforms will come to dominate global digital payments, the people said. That in turn could give China access to banking and personal data of hundreds of millions of people. Senior administration officials discussed the idea in a September 30 meeting in the White House Situation Room, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Yet officials acknowledge that it would be difficult to move forward until they sort out the mechanism, and that is proving difficult to do as the officials seek to find a legally sound approach.
There’s no indication the idea has been presented to President Donald Trump, whose approval would be required to proceed, two of the people said. The president fell ill with coronavirus a day after officials met to discuss China, and the issue hasn’t made much progress at such a senior level in the days since, one of the people said.