Trump bans WeChat? Many American companies express opposition

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According to the Global Times, on the evening of August 6, local time, Trump announced a new ban against China, prohibiting American companies from conducting any transactions with WeChat software from September 20. Following TikTok, WeChat has become another software suppressed by the Trump administration.

As the overseas version of Douyin, TikTok is currently in a very worrying situation. However, if WeChat, which has a huge number of users and is deeply involved in people's daily life, is banned in the United States, the impact will be very great.

Spanish media believe that Trump's eagerness to ban WeChat may not cause any huge impact on Tencent, but it will have a negative impact on American society. If WeChat is stopped in the United States, Chinese Americans will first lose the way to contact their families.

Unlike TikTok, WeChat plays an important role in many electronic information service industries in the United States, such as game login services and electronic communication services. According to reports, after the news of Trump's ban on WeChat came out, another 60,000 local people immediately signed a petition calling on Trump to abandon this decision.

Apple will be the first to be affected

Industry insiders analyzed that the reason for the ban was still the national security of the United States. After the news came out, the stock price of Apple Mobile Phone Company fell continuously.

Apple has a huge number of users in China. If the "ban order" is officially implemented, Apple will suffer the greatest losses compared to other American companies.

As we all know, China is one of Apple's main markets.

Globally, according to the 2019 global smartphone shipment statistics released by market research firm Strategy Analytics, Apple's smartphone shipments in 2019 were 197 million units, ranking third in the world, accounting for 14% of the global smartphone market share, far lower than Huawei's 17%.

Once the ban is implemented, many users who cannot do without WeChat will turn to Android phones.

However, Trump believes that the decline in mobile phone sales is not worth mentioning when it comes to national security issues.

Banning WeChat will hurt many American companies

According to Reuters, in mid-August, many American companies joined forces to resist Trump's WeChat ban. The Wall Street Journal reported that these American companies believed that if WeChat was banned, their competitiveness in China would be weakened.

The U.S.-China Business Council said Trump's decision would put American companies in a difficult position.

"If we lose the WeChat platform, it will be an existential threat."

If the ban is really implemented, it will have a significant impact on American companies.

According to Guancha.com, a large number of US companies have expressed concerns after Trump issued the WeChat ban. According to Bloomberg, in response to the dissatisfaction of US companies, Trump said that it would not affect their transactions with China.

Trump also said that these companies can still continue to use WeChat in China.

Previously, American companies had asked the White House about the specific operations of the ban. At the same time, US government officials have gradually realized that banning WeChat would cause "devastating losses" to multiple industries in the United States.

As China is a very important market for many industries around the world, many foreign companies use WeChat to communicate and coordinate with domestic companies.

For example, users who like to watch Marvel movies know that in recent years, many Hollywood film companies have needed the Chinese market, and one of the simplest, most efficient and economical means of promotion is to forward posters on WeChat Moments with ticket-grabbing links.

However, if WeChat cannot be used to contact domestic companies, it will cause a lot of trouble to many American film companies, brokerage companies and other upstream and downstream companies in the industry chain, affecting the jobs of many people.

In the short term, no American software can replace WeChat.

Domestic netizens strongly protested against the measure

On August 27, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that many Chinese people said that if the United States really banned WeChat, then Apple phones would no longer be used.

Zhao Lijian said that in the eyes of some U.S. politicians, the so-called national security is nothing more than a synonym for American double standards. Under the guise of national security, they abuse state power and unreasonably suppress non-U.S. companies. The U.S.'s piracy has damaged the rights and interests of consumers and businesses in various countries including the United States, and will inevitably be opposed and boycotted by the international community.

Not only that, with the development of domestic mobile phones and the high price of iPhone, more and more people are choosing domestic phones.

On August 4 this year, mobile Internet big data company QuestMobile released the 2020 China Smart Terminal Market Half-Year Insight Report. The report shows that the four domestic giants Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, and vivo continue to encircle Apple, and Apple’s mobile phone market share has dropped to 21.6%. In the same period last year, Apple’s market share was 23.5%.

Moreover, the rapid development of 5G has also allowed the majority of users to see the advantages of domestic mobile phones.

As of December 2019, Huawei's 5G smartphone shipments reached 6.9 million units, accounting for 36.9% of global 5G smartphone shipments, ranking first; followed by Samsung, whose 5G smartphone shipments were 6.7 million units, accounting for 35.8% of global 5G smartphone shipments.

Brands such as Xiaomi, vivo, OPPO, and ZTE have released 5G mobile phones one after another. However, there is no sign of iPhone's 5G mobile phone.

For most domestic users, not having WeChat will bring a lot of inconvenience to life.

Although many Apple fans like to use the iOS system, WeChat has now replaced most of the text messaging and phone functions. At the same time, WeChat payment, transfer, red envelope and other functions, as well as the login and payment functions of various apps, have brought unprecedented changes to everyone's lives.

So for many domestic users, they would rather give up iPhone than give up WeChat.

At least, how can we grab red envelopes during the Chinese New Year without WeChat?