The United States has issued a new order to block people in the US from downloading the popular video-sharing app TikTok and Wechat as of September 20th, Reuters reported Friday.

The order, issued by the US Commerce Department, effectively bars US citizens from downloading the two Chinese-owned apps from either Apple or Google's app storefronts.

"The Chinese Communist Party has demonstrated the means and motives to use these apps to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and the economy of the US," Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement.

“At the President’s direction, we have taken significant action to combat China’s malicious collection of American citizens’ personal data, while promoting our national values, democratic rules-based norms, and aggressive enforcement of US laws and regulations,” Commerce Department statement added.

US President Donald Trump had said earlier that he is "not prepared to sign off on anything", asserting, "it has to be 100 percent as far as national security is concerned."

The rule would reportedly go into effect Sunday, September 20th, banning new downloads of both WeChat and TikTok, as per Reuters report.