The New York Stock Exchange revealed earlier today its intention to remove three significant Chinese telecommunications firms from its listings, a decision initially communicated last week but seemingly retracted on Monday.

This development stems from a wider directive issued by the Trump administration, prohibiting U.S. investment in companies perceived to provide support to the Chinese military. (The administration has also pursued a separate order aimed at prohibiting TikTok.)

What accounts for the change in direction? It’s important to note that the NYSE’s initial reversal involved a statement that it would permit these telecom companies to continue trading while assessing the applicability of the executive order to their operations.

It now appears this assessment has been finalized. The NYSE stated in today’s announcement that it is proceeding with the delisting following the receipt of “updated, precise instructions” affirming that the executive order indeed applies to China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom.

Consequently, trading of shares for all three companies will be halted on the exchange starting at 4:00 a.m. Eastern time on Monday, January 11. While this action is being taken, it is generally considered to have limited practical impact, as the volume of these companies’ shares traded on the NYSE constitutes a relatively small portion of their overall tradable stock.