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Teresa Elena Frontado

Mark Magnier

Ng Kang-chung

The Hong Kong government on Friday welcomed the Trump administration’s decision to allow a national emergency declaration concerning the city to expire, although Washington said the executive order that ended the city’s preferential treatment remains in effect.
The declaration, which underpinned Washington’s decision to end Hong Kong’s preferential treatment in areas including trade and export controls, expired this week after US President Donald Trump did not renew it for another year.
“The president has allowed the national emergency to end, but Executive Order 13936 otherwise remains in effect,” a State Department spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said Washington continued to regard Hong Kong as “no longer sufficiently autonomous to justify differential treatment in relation to the [China]” under the US laws and provisions specified in the order.
The clarification indicates that the expiration of the emergency will not automatically restore Hong Kong’s special treatment in areas including trade and export controls.
The US Treasury noted on its website that the expiration did not apply to or affect two related US laws, the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019 or the Hong Kong Autonomy Act of 2020.

The Hong Kong government called the decision “an important step” towards implementing a consensus reached between China and the United States, amid signs of easing tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
“Safeguarding Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability serves the common interests of China and the United States and is also in line with the international community’s shared expectations,” a government spokesman said.
The statement welcomed what it described as a positive adjustment to Washington’s Hong Kong policy and urged the United States to respect Chinese sovereignty and the rule of law in the city while restoring normal economic and trade ties.
China’s commerce ministry also said the US had confirmed that it would not extend the measure, which had been renewed annually since Trump issued it during his first term.
“The US action is an important step in fulfilling the consensus reached in the bilateral trade talks,” the ministry said, referring to meetings in May.
The ministry said maintaining Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability served the interests of both countries and that Washington’s policy shift reflected the international community’s expectations.
The US Treasury Department noted the change in dry technical language.
“The national emergency declared in Executive Order (E.O.) 13936 of July 14, 2020, “The President’s Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization,” has expired,” it said on its website.
It also noted that people and property sanctioned under the Hong Kong Autonomy Act remain so and have been added to an updated Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions list.
US analysts said Friday’s move was a modest step but one that may signal a shift in direction.
“It’s significant at a symbolic level in terms of perhaps ever so slightly but tangibly the US is lightening up on its negativeness about Hong Kong,” said Kurt Tong, a former US consul general to Hong Kong and Macau who is now a partner with the Asia Group consultancy.
“The US is now leaning less heavily in the direction of wanting to apply punishment for Hong Kong’s changes and leaning a bit more in the direction of doing what is good for the US in practical terms on a case-by-case basis. It is a subtle but significant change.”
China’s commerce ministry urged the US to respect Chinese sovereignty and the rule of law in Hong Kong, restore normal economic and trade exchanges with the city, and contribute to a “constructive and strategically stable” relationship with Beijing.
The State Department, meanwhile, said the administration was focused on improving “strategic stability” with China, including in its approach to Hong Kong.
“The United States expects Beijing and Hong Kong authorities to engage constructively and reciprocally on US political, economic and national security priorities,” the spokesperson said.
Tong said under the complicated rule change, sanctions have been lifted on Hong Kong Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok. But they remain in place for other top officials, including Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, Security Secretary Chris Tang Ping-keung and former chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.
“It’s open to interpretation whether the US will be flexible about sanctions going forward,” he added. “I don’t know is the short answer on whether the US is going to consider sanctions relief for the chief executive, probably the thing that is most troublesome for Hong Kong authorities.”
Lau Siu-kai, a consultant for the semi-official Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies think tank, said the US’ move was intended to stabilise US-China relations following the summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“The move will benefit both sides economically and financially. American businesses and capital can gain greater access to the mainland Chinese market and seek opportunities there through Hong Kong,” he said.
“This move will also facilitate economic, legal and cultural exchanges between Hong Kong and the US. It also implies that, in the foreseeable future, the US will not impose sanctions on Hong Kong officials because of Hong Kong’s actions to safeguard national security.”
The State Department did not endorse that interpretation and referred questions about sanctions to the Treasury Department.
US analysts said they will be watching for clues on the direction of US policy. One obvious indicator will be whether sanctions are lifted on Lee. Another would be whether US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent travels to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation finance ministers meeting in Hong Kong in October.
“The move confirms that Hong Kong is part of broader US-China trade and investment negotiations, with the Trump administration willing to trade away Hong Kong-related pressures. This is a major departure from bipartisan US policy of the past six years,” said Dominic Chiu, senior analyst with the Eurasia Group.
“It is a further signal of an ongoing shift in the administration away from viewing values-driven policy as non-negotiables, and towards a more transactionally driven diplomacy.”
But Chiu added that any future sanctions rollbacks are likely to be modest given that the cohort of officials designated exclusively under the executive order is relatively small.
“Export control alignment with China will also likely continue, given the administration’s priority on national security and technology competition,” said Chiu. “A reversal of these would be a much more meaningful signal of a sea change in the administration’s treatment on HK’s status.”
The analyst added that statutory sanctions are likely to remain given bipartisan support in Congress for Hong Kong-related human rights measures.
Trump issued Executive Order 13936 in July 2020, declaring a national emergency following Beijing’s imposition of the national security law that came after months of anti-government protests in Hong Kong.
The order suspended the city’s preferential treatment under several US laws, paving the way for Washington to treat Hong Kong in the same manner as mainland China in areas including export controls, defence shipments and the marking of imported goods.
Washington said the security law had eroded Hong Kong’s autonomy and restricted rights and freedoms promised to the city after its return to Chinese rule in 1997. Beijing and Hong Kong authorities have maintained that the legislation restored stability after the 2019 protests.


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State Department says 2020 order remains in effect as city still lacks sufficient autonomy for different treatment from mainland China


State Department says 2020 order remains in effect as city still lacks sufficient autonomy for different treatment from mainland China.


US lets Hong Kong emergency expire but keeps preferential treatment restrictions

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}State Department says 2020 order remains in effect as city still lacks sufficient autonomy for different treatment from mainland China

State Department says 2020 order remains in effect as city still lacks sufficient autonomy for different treatment from mainland China