The Trump administration and congressional officials are scrutinizing a deal between Apple and Alibaba that would introduce Alibaba-based artificial intelligence features into iPhones sold in China, The New York Times reports.
Citing anonymous sources, the NYT reports that White House officials and members of the House Select Committee on China have directly asked Apple executives about the deal, focusing on what data will be shared with Alibaba and whether the company is making any commitments to Chinese regulators. The executives were reportedly unable to answer most of these questions.
In a statement, Representative Raja Krishnamoorthy (the top Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence) described Alibaba as “the poster child for the Chinese Communist Party’s civil-military merger strategy” and said it was “extremely troubling” that Apple “has not been transparent about its deal.”
The deal itself was publicly confirmed only by Alibaba, not Apple. This is not the only challenge that rising tensions between the United States and China pose to the iPhone maker’s business, as the company faces tariffs that go up and down.
