WeChat may also face US actions after TikTok

White House adviser Peter Navarro said he expects U.S. President Donald Trump to take “strong action” against Chinese social network apps TikTok and WeChat for engaging in “information warfare” against the United States.

Navarro made the remarks on Fox News on Sunday when he said the Trump administration is “just getting started” with the two apps, and he would not rule out the U.S. banning them.

This is the first time WeChat has been named but the focus, for now, seems to be still on TikTok.

Even if TikTok is sold to an American buyer, it would not solve the problem, Navarro said.

“If TikTok separates as an American company, that doesn’t help us,” Navarro said. “Because it’s going to be worse – we’re going to have to give China billions of dollars for the privilege of having TikTok operate on U.S. soil.”

Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. "certainly looking" at a ban on Chinese social media apps, specifically TikTok.

U.S. official says 'certainly looking' at banning TikTok

"We've worked on this issue for a long time," Pompeo said during a Fox News interview.

"I don't want to get out in front of the president, but it's something we're looking at," he adds.

On Friday, U.S. bank Wells Fargo asked employees to delete TikTok from their work phones due to concerns about the security.

The bank's staff at the e-commerce group had received a memo early on Friday demanding TikTok be uninstalled from any device that accessed corporate email, citing “security risks” related to the app.

Earlier on Friday, Amazon also told employees to delete TikTok from mobile devices they use to access company email, but it later said that was a mistake.