It stays tough on national security, making U.S. tech policy an easier sell to friends abroad.
Joe Biden couldn’t have picked a better time to release his latest executive order than his inaugural trip to Europe as U.S. president. In overturning Trump-era bans on Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat messaging app and ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok video service, the administration sends a message not only to Beijing but to allies around the world that its approach to Chinese technology isn’t about reflexive hostility, but nuanced policy. Coupled with the revocation were new orders requiring officials such as the commerce secretary and director of national intelligence to provide a threat assessment and recommendations to protect against the use of sensitive data by foreign adversaries. Former President Donald Trump’s ban had been based on unproven claims that China was using such apps to threaten national security. Signs of Biden’s more considered approach were apparent last week with an update to another Trump executive order that had banned U.S. investment in Chinese companies with ties to the country’s military and surveillance sectors. As evidenced in that edict, the White House is tightening the criteria for blacklisting, and in doing so avoids the previous administration’s more broad approach of assigning guilt by association.
