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BUSINESS Thursday 7 January 2021
Trump widens U.S. ban on Chinese apps as his term nears end

By BARBARA ORTUTAY and technology theft.
MICHAEL LIEDTKE But dealing with the fall-
AP Technology Writers out from Trump's latest shot
President Donald Trump has at China could still create
signed an executive order more headaches for Biden
banning transactions with on top of the ongoing ef-
eight Chinese apps includ- forts to fight a worsening
ing Alipay and WeChat pandemic after he takes
Pay in an escalation of a office.
trade war that has been Senior Trump administra-
unfolding through most of tion officials indicated they
his term. hadn't consulted with the
The order, however, goes president-elect's team be-
into effect in 45 days, near- fore issuing the latest effort
ly a month after Joe Biden to ban more China apps.
will be inaugurated as the They described the apps as
next president, so the fate instruments for a commu-
of Trump's action is unclear. nist government bent on
The orders follow two oth- "digital totalitarianism."
ers Trump signed in August When reporters asked why
banning dealings with the the administration was only
popular video app TikTok This July 20, 2020, file photo, shows, the app for Alipay, the mobile payments service operated by taking these steps now
as well as the main WeChat Ant Group, on a smartphone in Beijing. with the Trump presidency
messaging app. The fate of Associated Press down to its final two weeks,
those apps in the U.S. is still one official said the execu-
unclear, and with just 15 ed by tech giant Tencent. a rising economic super- Equifax, and the Chinese tive action should have
days left until Inauguration The others named in the or- power. Over the past sev- government strictly limits probably been taken years
Day, it will likely fall to Biden der are CamScanner, QQ eral years, it has lashed out what U.S. tech companies ago, "but better late than
to deal with them — or not. Wallet, SHAREit, Tencent at China with tariffs that can do in China. never." The officials spoke
The same goes for Tues- QQ, VMate and WPS Of- have sometimes roiled the Political analysts expect on condition of anonym-
day's executive order. fice. U.S. stock market, blocked Biden to try to resume ity because they were not
A representative for Biden's Trump's order cites unspeci- mergers involving Chinese cooperation with Beijing authorized to discuss the
office did not immediately fied concerns about the companies and stifled the on issues such as climate executive action publicly.
return a message for com- apps collecting Americans' business of Chinese firms like change and the corona- National Security Adviser
ment Tuesday. personal and financial in- Huawei, a maker of phones virus. However, economists Robert C. O'Brien framed
Alipay is a widely used digi- formation and turning it and telecom equipment. and political analysts fore- the order as part of Trump's
tal wallet that is part of the over to China's communist China-backed hackers, see few big changes due ongoing effort to "prioritize
empire of e-commerce government. meanwhile, have been to widespread frustration the safety and security of
billionaire and Ant Group The order marks the Trump blamed for data breaches with Beijing's trade and hu- the United States home-
founder Jack Ma. WeChat administration's latest at- of U.S. federal databases man rights record and ac- land and the American
Pay is a rival service operat- tempt to hobble China, and the credit agency cusations of spying and people."q
Walgreens to sell drug wholesale business for $6.5B

By TOM MURPHY shoppers to stay home pay nearly $6.3 billion in
AP Health Writer and away from their stores. cash and 2 million shares of
Walgreens Boots Alliance Walgreens estimated in its common stock for Wal-
will sell its pharmaceutical October that the pan- greens' Alliance Health-
wholesale business to Am- demic shaved about $520 care business in a deal
erisourceBergen in a $6.5 million from its operating the companies expect to
billion cash and stock deal. income in its final quar- close by September. Wal-
Pharmaceutical wholesal- ter of fiscal 2020. But the greens already owns a
ers essentially act as mid- drugstore chain also grew nearly 30% stake in Ameri-
dlemen, purchasing drugs sales and prescriptions sourceBergen.
from manufacturers and in the United States and Alliance Healthcare sup-
then distributing them to saw some improvement plies more than 115,000
customers like drugstore through its Boots stores in pharmacies, physicians
chains, hospitals and doc- the United Kingdom. and health centers in Eu- This June 25, 2019, file photo shows the sign outside a Wal-
tor's offices. Deerfield, Illinois-based rope and Egypt. greens Pharmacy in Pittsburgh.
Walgreens said Wednes- Walgreens Boots Alli- The companies also said Associated Press
day that the deal will al- ance Inc. runs more than Wednesday that they will
low it to focus more on 21,000 stores mainly in the extend their U.S. distribu- said Wednesday that the shares rose more than 4%
expanding its core retail United States and United tion agreement by three McKesson joint venture to $43.10. Both eclipsed
pharmacy business which, Kingdom. Drugstores are years, until 2029. was not part of the Ameri- the more than 1% increase
like others, has been rat- the main focus of its busi- Walgreens said in Novem- source deal. from the Dow Jones in-
tled by the COVID-19 pan- ness, unlike main rival CVS ber that it was combining Shares of Amerisource- dustrial average, of which
demic. Health Corp., which also its wholesale business in Bergen Corp., based in Walgreens is a compo-
Drugstore chains and other operates large insurance Germany with McKesson Chesterbrook, Pennsylva- nent.
retailers were hit hard, par- and pharmacy benefit Corp., and it would con- nia, jumped more than Walgreens will report re-
ticularly last spring, when management businesses. trol 70% of that venture. 8% to $105.78 Wednes- sults from its fiscal first quar-
the pandemic forced AmerisourceBergen will A Walgreens spokesman day afternoon. Walgreens ter on Thursday.q