China said at a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting that U.S. restrictions on Chinese mobile apps TikTok and WeChat violate the agency’s rules.
Donald Trump’s administration ordered blockades in the download of the two mobile apps and forced ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, to sell its operations to a U.S. company, citing national security concerns. However, the country’s judges have questioned the government’s arguments.
A representative of China said at a closed-door meeting Friday that the measures “are clearly inconsistent with WTO rules, restrict cross-border trade services, and violate the basic principles and objectives of the multilateral trading system,” said a trade official familiar with the issue, who did not want to be identified.
The official said the delegate described america’s failure to provide concrete evidence of the reasons for its actions as a “clear abuse” of the rules.
At the same meeting, the United States defended its actions, saying they are aimed at mitigating national security risks, the trade official said. The government has previously said that Beijing is accessing U.S. user data.
The U.S. Trade Representative’s office made no comment immediately. A Chinese mission official to the WTO did not respond to a request for comment.
The Chinese declaration will have no consequence on its own, although the country could file an official complaint on the matter with the Geneva agency.
