The US State Department wants to blacklist the Ant Group for trade

The US State Department has submitted a proposal to Donald Trump’s administration to put Alibaba Group’s fintech arm on a trade blacklist.

The US State Department has recommended that Ant Group, the parent company of The Chinese payment company Alipay, be blacklisted for trade sanctions. At the same time, Ant Financial Group is pushing for an A+H listing in China.




Netizens should know whose company this is and whose company this is. As for current trends, as long as Chinese companies, whether multinational or local, are concerned, the US government will sanction Chinese companies if they do not look good, and blacklist Chinese companies.

In fact, in my opinion, this is an epitome of the Trade disputes between China and the United States, and if the dispute continues, it will have a very bad impact on the economy of both countries, and the people of both countries will be hurt the most.

Washington is trying to put Ants on its so-called “entity list” to prevent U.S. companies from doing business with the Chinese fintech giant, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing sources. U.S. companies must obtain a license before exporting a specific product to a company in the company’s list.

 

However, it is unclear when U.S. government agencies will review the matter.

U.S. officials are concerned that Ant Financial Services Group of China could give the Chinese government access to sensitive bank data of U.S. users, the report said.



Reuters also said China hawks in the Trump administration were seeking to send a message to deter American investors from participating in ant group’s initial public offering. It was not immediately clear when U.S. government agencies, which have the authority to decide whether to include a company on an “entity list,” would review the matter, the report said. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and The Ant Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This is not the first time that someone in Washington has carelessly approached the Ant Group. On July 7, Bloomberg also quoted unnamed sources as saying that the US was considering restrictions on Ant Group’s and Tencent’s digital payment platforms for fear of a “threat to national security.”

In response to the report, Beijing condemned Washington’s actions, adding more fuel to sino-us trade tensions.

“China is opposed to the US abusing its national security concept and state power to oppress foreign countries. It’s a form of bullying, “Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a daily news briefing on Thursday.

“China will continue to take necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies,” Mr. Zhao added.

The blacklist is not a big problem for Ant Financial.




At the same time, the potential blacklist is unlikely to have much impact on The Ant Group, which accounts for less than 5 percent of its U.S. revenue.

“Trade blacklists are largely symbolic,” Abishur Prakash, a geopolitics expert at the Center for innovation and future at the consultancy, told CNBC.

In addition, “however, the blacklist is effective in another way: making other countries wary of linking their scientific and technological ecosystems to China.”

Chinese government regulators have delayed Ant Financial’s massive IPO




U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio released a statement to Reuters last week urging the Trump administration to try to delay the IPO. He did what he wanted, but he didn’t do it the way he expected it to be.

Ant Financial Services Group, the parent company of Alipay, China’s mobile payment platform, announced on July 20 that it had launched plans to sit on IPOs at SSE and the hong Kong Stock Exchange’s chief executive. Ant Financial’s initial public offering is expected to be worth $35 billion and could be the world’s largest, According to Reuters.

Earlier this week, the China Securities Regulatory Commission delayed the IPO because it was investigating a possible “conflict of interest” in its mobile wallet. Ant Alipay allows retail investors to buy five Chinese mutual funds that have invested in IPOs, Reuters reported today, citing people familiar with the matter. The CSRC found that this was a problem.

Jack ma, the Chinese billionaire, is said to have a majority stake in Ant, which could bring in up to 35 billion dollars from the IPO. The massive listing will be the largest listed company in the world, surpassing Saudi Ame’s record in January 2020.

When a company is added to the U.S. government’s “entity list,” U.S. companies cannot sell technology products to companies without permission. This is an option for the Trump administration to sanction Chinese companies, such as its heavy blow to Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant, but many observers think the impact on fintech giants like Ant group could be more symbolic.