Sharjah 24 – BNA: President Donald Trump has signed an executive order banning transactions with eight Chinese apps including Alipay and WeChat Pay in an escalation of a trade war that has been unfolding through most of his term.

The order, however, goes into effect in 45 days, nearly a month after Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the next president, so the fate of Trump’s action is unclear, the Associated Press reported.

The orders follow two others Trump signed in August banning dealings with the popular video app TikTok as well as the main WeChat messaging app. The fate of those apps in the U.S. is still unclear, and with just 15 days left until Inauguration Day, it will likely fall to Biden to deal with them — or not. The same goes for Tuesday’s executive order.

A representative for Biden’s office did not immediately return a message for comment Tuesday.

Trump’s order cites unspecified concerns about the apps collecting Americans’ personal and financial information and turning it over to China’s communist government.

The order marks the Trump administration’s latest attempt to hobble China, a rising economic superpower. Over the past several years, it has lashed out at China with tariffs that have sometimes roiled the U.S. stock market, blocked mergers involving Chinese companies and stifled the business of Chinese firms like Huawei, a maker of phones and telecom equipment.

Despite the worries of a backlash, Apple has emerged largely unscathed from Trump’s battel with China, enabling it to boost its market value above $2 trillion amid the pandemic.