Thread on IEEPA Executive Orders regarding Tik Tok and WeChat apps. Trump issued two EOs tonight. The first concerned Tik Tok and its parent company ByteDance, and the second concerned WeChat and its parent company TenCent Holdings. 1/
Here is the Tik Tok/ByteDance EO: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-addressing-threat-posed-tiktok/ 2/
Executive Order on Addressing the Threat Posed by TikTok | The White House

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-addressing-threat-posed-tiktok/
Here is the WeChat/TenCent EO: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-addressing-threat-posed-wechat/ 3/
Executive Order on Addressing the Threat Posed by WeChat | The White House

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-addressing-threat-posed-wechat/
Both EOs invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a broad law allowing a president to prohibit "US persons"--which extends to corporate persons such as businesses and banks--from engaging in financial transactions with sanctioned entities. 4/
Because IEEPA is an emergency power, its use falls under the National Emergencies Act, and in order to use IEEPA the president has to declare a "National Emergency". Here, Trump does not declare a new National Emergency, he relies on one he declared in May 2019. 5/
That May 2019 national emergency is EO 13873 "Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain". https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-securing-information-communications-technology-services-supply-chain/ 6/
Executive Order on Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain...

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-securing-information-communications-technology-services-supply-chain/
The National Emergencies Act requires presidents to specifically identify which emergency powers are being invoked under a particular national emergency. But EO 13873 *already* invokes IEEPA, meaning Trump didn't have to issue new EOs to add IEEPA as an emergency power. 7/
Put another way, nothing in today's executive orders add new powers to what Trump already could do vis-a-vis ByteDance and TenCent based on his May 2019 EO. Instead, these new EOs primarily serve as a messaging and pressure function, providing a countdown clock of 45 days. 8/
But even in 45 days, the EOs give complete discretion to the Secretary of Commerce to define exactly what "transactions" are prohibited. (See sections 1(c) of each of the EOs.) It could be as broad as all transactions with ByteDance and TenCent, or a narrow selection. END
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