Trump seeks to strip Hong Kong of its special U.S. relationship
President Donald Trump said Friday that his administration would “begin the process” of ending the U.S. government’s special relationship with Hong Kong, including on trade and law enforcement, and that it was withdrawing from the World Health Organization, as part of a broad effort to retaliate against China.
But the president was unclear about the speed and full scope of the actions, and his remarks left many questions unanswered. Stock markets rose after Trump’s speech in the White House Rose Garden, suggesting that investors had feared the president would take even more draconian steps against China, the world’s secondlargest economy.
Trump voiced a range of grievances against China’s “malfeasance,” angrily denouncing the country’s trade and security practices and its crackdown on civil liberties in Hong Kong, as well as its influence at the WHO.
As punishment, the president said he would begin stripping away Hong Kong’s privileges with the United States, including an extradition treaty and commercial relations, with few exceptions. He said that Hong Kong would be subject to export controls that prevent China from gaining access to certain types of advanced technology, but he did not specify whether the tariffs that apply to imports from the mainland would be expanded to Hong Kong.
“My announcement today will affect the full range of agreements we have with Hong Kong,” the president said, including “action to revoke Hong Kong’s preferential treatment as a separate customs and travel territory from the rest of China.”
Trump’s announcement came largely in response to Beijing’s move this week to put in place broad new national security powers over Hong Kong. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that he was reporting to Congress a determination that Hong Kong no longer had significant autonomy under Chinese rule. Pompeo’s finding amounted to a recommendation that the United States should reconsider its special relationship with Hong Kong.
The president said the new security law for Hong Kong “extends the reach of China’s invasive state security apparatus into what was formerly a bastion of liberty.” He added that Chinese and Hong Kong officials deemed responsible for the rollback of liberties in the territory would be subject to sanctions.
Trump’s decision could have significant implications for Hong Kong and its 7.5 million residents, many of whom have fought to preserve individual liberties and rule of law — both central to the territory’s status as a nexus of global capitalism — in the face of growing pressure from the Chinese Communist Party. Trump’s actions could further erode international confidence in Hong Kong’s ability to maintain its singular identity and its advantages in serving as a base for Chinese and foreign companies.
But several analysts reacted with caution given the many unknowns surrounding what actions, precisely, Trump would take.
“Although there was a lot of fire and brimstone in the president’s remarks, there were few details,” said Scott Kennedy, an expert on China economic policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “This could be devastating or of limited consequence depending on how the U.S. proceeds.”
American corporate executives and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which represents American businesses in Hong Kong, have cautioned the Trump administration against acting hastily to alter the special relationship, in which the U.S. government gives the territory advantages with regard to tariffs, export controls, visas and law enforcement cooperation that mainland China does not enjoy.
And Trump also said he was “terminating” the United States’ “relationship” with the WHO, which he portrayed as a puppet of the Chinese Communist Party. The president, who previously halted funding to the organization, repeatedly blamed the organization and China for mishandling the coronavirus outbreak after the pandemic spread to the United States.
Allies of the WHO, which gets most of its funding from the U.S., defended the organization and its response to the pandemic, saying it was among the earliest public health voices warning of the danger from the virus.