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Comment by golem14 | Hacker News Reader

It would be trivial for the admin to say that Apple only has to block wechat from the US app store, and trivial for Apple to implement it. There's little to gain from blocking wechat in china, so I don't think they will cut in their own flesh.

Unless there are ways (via VPN etc) to temporarily switch a phone to the Chinese appstore and install wechat for a US phone this way.

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While the administration could say that Apple only has to block wechat from the US app store, it's not what they have done and they have not indicated that they want to go that way; the currently announced prohibition, as far as I understand, would prohibit Apple to support WeChat anywhere no matter if it allows installing WeChat for a US phone this way or not.

... because the current admin is not exactly in the habit of thinking ahead. I see no reason they intentionally want to hurt the goose laying golden eggs. I’d be happy to learn valid reasons why though.

> I see no reason they intentionally want to hurt the goose laying golden eggs.

It makes them feel powerful. So there's at least one reason.

Haha. But yes, maybe, even if it's sad to see the US government at the level of a 6 year old.

Well there's 45 days to lobby. Apple will be inconvenienced even by Americans with Chinese background and iphones. A large chunk of them switching to rooted Android versions will not be good news to Apple (or Google, for that matter.) And I think they will, seeing how dependent many are on weChat.

I doubt he is not thinking ahead. Just seeing jobs start to come back to US when the previous one claimed no magic wand can do it already indicate the orange man are no ordinary tactician. He ended ISIS just by bombing them to hell while the previous with a Nobel, free helicopterloads of money and 2 terms couldn't. Look at the outcome. If the ends is good, the means may not be that stupid as you might perceived. The guy able to do Art of War even better than the people who read it as part of national educational syllabus since young.

The administration doesn’t have the constitutional authority to make such a demand.

You mean like the four “executive orders” (really just one) he issued in response to the Congressional stalemate to Covid.

Who is going to reign him? The Senate? Federal judges who he appointed?

He will have to go to court to get them enforced. That will take into next term, at which point Biden will repudiate them.

The administration has not let constitutional limitations hinder any of their decisions.

The problem with Constitutional "authority" is that it relies on good faith, as the government is really just policing itself. If a President asks 'who is going to stop me?', they will quickly find out the answer is 'nobody.'

He will have to go to court to enforce them. And he will lose.

Which was the problem many people foresaw when the last administration did it. They set the precedent, or pushed at its boundaries. "If they can do it... so can we..." It's the main problem with any governmental structure. If it exists, sooner or later it's bound to cut in what we consider the wrong direction.

Congress does, and Congress delegated the power to the President some time ago.

International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA)

the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.)

section 301 of title 3, United States Code

Those acts clearly exempts information services from these powers.

Cook has already kissed the Golden Ring with the “Apple is building Mac Pros in the USA” [1] photo ops where Cook stood silently by while Trump exaggerated what Apple is doing. Cook can easily get that limited to the US.

Besides, Apple is isn’t in the same boat as Google or Facebook where Trump is targeting because Apple is “unfair to conservatives” nor does he have the personal animosity he has toward Amazon because Bezos owns the Washington Post.

[1] Apple is only doing final assembly of MacPros designated for the US in the US. They are doing the same thing in other countries so they can say they are manufacturing Mac Pros in their country.

Would it be legal for American companies to ignore American laws on foreign land? It doesn't sound plausible

Can't you set up some sort of foreign subsidiary to do it for you? Apple already uses this model for storing icloud data in china, to comply with chinese laws.

I am willing to bet the App Store is an Ireland based entity with contracts back to Apple to provide service aka generate expenses for Apple's US entity. That way Apple can book all the app store revenue in Ireland.

I am willing to bet you don’t understand US corporate tax laws and accounting rules.

A presidential order is not a law, and if unconstitutional like this one, never has to be obeyed anywhere.

never has to be obeyed anywhere

That's not how it works. It has to be obeyed until invalidated by a court.

You can't just tell a law enforcement agency, "I know the president said x, but that's unconstitutional."

Law enforcement is not lawyers, or constitutional scholars. That's for the judiciary to sort out.

You have it backwards, law enforcement has to go to court to attempt to have WeChat removed from Apple devices. They can’t just confiscate random iPhones to scrape it off their storage, and they aren’t bursting into Apple HQ to force its removal from their servers.

It depends on how intense the law/sanctions are. Example, no US company can trade/do business with Iran,even indirectly. The Trump administration also made it difficult for other countries to do business with Iran, makes it almost impossible for any other country to business with them.Hence, Iran's economy is in the toilet, and it can only trade with Russia, China and the middle eastern countries they have high-influence over(which are typically poor). Their oil can be sold to western countries, due to OPEC, but money that ends up in foreign accounts are inaccessible.

Plus, most of Trump's policies of late with China has to do with the new Silk Road. The new Silk Road is seeing China expand(land grabs) into other countries, and take over strategic points. Since, a lot of China's economy is from foreign trade, the more US makes trade difficult the harder it is for China to expand. Time, will tell if this strategy works or not, when China becomes the #1 superpower/economy in the world(speculation, but is looking more likely).

For anyone who didn't know what was meant by 'the new Silk Road':

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_and_Road_Initiative

Thank you!

People regularly go to prison for violating US trade sanctions. The majority of Apple's employees including all of their executives are in the US and easy to find. I doubt any of them are volunteering to test the boundaries of US trade sanctions.

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