Trump taking action to eliminate special treatment for Hong Kong

[tacobell fan]

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump on Friday announced he would begin taking steps to revoke Hong Kong’s favored trade status with the United States, in response to a controversial new security law that would effectively bar political protest and opposition movements in Hong Kong.

The shift in Hong Kong’s status immediately jeopardizes several aspects of the former British colony’s relationship with the United States, which has so far meant that Hong Kong has been spared punishing tariffs that are a hallmark of Trump’s trade war with Beijing.

 

For weeks, the Trump administration has been ratcheting up pressure on Beijing over its alleged cover-up of early coronavirus cases. Trump has publicly blamed China for the virus itself and for its outsized severity in the United States.

Beijing, in turn, has suggested the virus originated in U.S. service members, a claim widely rejected by international health experts. 

In the past week, however, the pressure from the United States has taken a more serious turn in response to a proposed Chinese security law that threatens the long-standing independence of Hong Kong. The law, formally approved Thursday by China’s People’s Congress, is expected to criminalize most forms of political protest under blanket bans on “sedition” and “subversion.”  

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a report to Congress declaring that Hong Kong was no longer autonomous from China. 

“No reasonable person can assert today that Hong Kong maintains a high degree of autonomy from China, given facts on the ground,” Pompeo said in a statement accompanying the report. 

The shift in Hong Kong’s status immediately jeopardizes the former British colony’s favorable trade relationship with the United States, which has so far meant that Hong Kong has been spared punishing tariffs that are a hallmark of Trump’s trade war with Beijing.

Even as relations have grown more hostile, Trump has been reluctant to take action on China that could tip the strained bilateral relationship into an outright confrontation.

As president, Trump is acutely aware of the United States’ interdependence with China as a market for American exports and a supplier of manufactured goods. He also still believes that his phase one trade deal, signed in January, can and will be seen as one of the high points of his presidency, fulfilling a key campaign promise he made in 2016. 

Likewise, since the coronavirus arrived in the U.S., Trump has shown little appetite for signing any legislation he thinks could hinder the economic recovery. 

[Pitta]