Nicole Y. Lamb-Hale on U.S.-China Relations

Business Intelligence and Investigations Managing Director and Duff & Phelps Institute Fellow Nicole Y. Lamb-Hale joined Yahoo! Finance to discuss the impacts of President Trump’s executive orders banning TikTok and WeChat in the U.S. in 45 days.

Highlighting the issue of data security, Nicole says, “Having served on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States when I was in the Obama administration, data security issues were always an issue, but we didn't have the tools to address it. With the amendments to the legislation authorizing CFIUS, there is a tool to address it around privacy and protection of personally identifiable information. And so to the extent that there is a national security threat associated with TikTok and WeChat, this is appropriate action.”

When asked about how the U.S. will enforce the executive orders, Nicole says there is uncertainty, stating, “The Commerce Department, acting under the president's authority with respect to emergency powers, can put restrictions on consumer use and business use of TikTok and WeChat.

We've already seen, with respect to the federal government employees, that there have been orders to remove the apps from their devices that are issued by the government. So there are a number of tools. I hope that the tools are identified very shortly and that this list or these restrictions are so that companies can begin to plan. I mean, certainty is really the issue here, and I was a little surprised by the open-ended nature of the WeChat order in particular because there is really no clue as to what it will apply to. And for global businesses who are doing long-term planning, that's a problem.”

Watch the full interview here.