London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 01, 2025

US President Donald Trump signs Hong Kong Autonomy Act, and ends the city’s preferential trade status

New law is the latest salvo from a united Washington as it retaliates against Beijing for further eroding Hong Kong’s autonomy. The executive order means ‘Hong Kong will now be treated the same as mainland China’, the US president says

US President Donald Trump took two actions against China in response to Beijing’s moves on Hong Kong on Tuesday, signing an executive order ending the city’s preferential trade treatment, and enacting a bill that would require sanctions against foreign individuals and banks for contributing to the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy.

“Hong Kong will now be treated the same as mainland China,” Trump said in a news conference in the Rose Garden at the White House. “No special privileges, no special economic treatment, and no export of sensitive technologies.”

Trump did not say when the new executive order’s provisions would go into effect, and the text of the directive is yet to be released. The move could open up Hong Kong to the tariffs his administration has slapped on Chinese exports over the course of the trade war that has raged between Washington and Beijing for the past two years.

The latest salvoes in Washington’s retaliation over Beijing’s imposition of a sweeping national security law on the city, the executive order and Trump’s signing of the Hong Kong Autonomy Act came shortly before a deadline for the US leader to sign or veto the legislation.

Introduced in late May, the bill breezed through both chambers of Congress in a handful of weeks – a quick turnaround in any congressional session, much less one dominated by coronavirus relief bills and police reform legislation as well as the looming fall elections.

With the bill having been approved by lawmakers via unanimous consent, a presidential veto would have been met with strong opposition from a Congress that has united around challenging Beijing on its actions, and could have been defeated by a two-thirds majority vote by lawmakers.

After unveiling his administration’s steps to punish Beijing over Hong Kong, Trump quickly veered the Rose Garden conference into unscripted yet familiar territory.

Over the course of a 50-minute, winding speech, he bashed his presumed Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden, attacked congressional Democrats, and defended his administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, at one point doubling down on his reservations about widespread testing. “Testing is a good thing but it’s fodder for the fake news to report cases,” he said.

To date, the coronavirus has killed more than 135,000 people and infected around 3.4 million in the US, now the epicentre of the global pandemic.

In the few moments he spent endorsing the new Hong Kong-related legislation handed to him by a united Congress, Trump said the law gave his administration “powerful new tools to hold responsible the individuals and the entities involved in extinguishing Hong Kong’s freedom”.

The act requires “mandatory sanctions” against any foreign individual for “materially contributing” to the violation of China’s commitments to Hong Kong under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution. Setting the terms of Hong Kong’s handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997, the Joint Declaration prescribed that the city would enjoy a “high degree of autonomy” until at least 2047.

Critics of Beijing, including US lawmakers, say that timeline has effectively been brought forward 27 years by China’s unilateral imposition of the national security law, specifics of which were publicised only after its implementation in late June.

The law criminalises a wide range of behaviour under four categories of subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion, and allows Beijing to extradite suspects to the mainland in certain cases. The law is also extraterritorial, covering alleged crimes committed outside the city.

“Their freedom has been taken away,” Trump said on Tuesday of Hongkongers. “Their rights have been taken away and with it goes Hong Kong, in my opinion, because it will no longer be able to compete with free markets.”
He added that he thought “a lot of people will be leaving Hong Kong.”

Asked by a reporter whether he had plans to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the near future, Trump said: “No I don’t. I have no plan to speak to him.”

Introduced in response to the national security law, the Hong Kong Autonomy Act signed by Trump also directs the US administration to levy sanctions against foreign financial institutions – including subsidiaries of US firms – that knowingly conduct business with designated individuals.

People targeted under the law would be barred from entering the US and lose control over any US-based assets. Sanctioned banks would also lose control of US-held assets, but would also be subjected to other punitive measures, including being prohibited from taking loans from any US institution and carrying out transactions that fall under American jurisdiction.

The bill’s rapid passage through Congress was not without hitches. One Republican senator who co-sponsored the bill halted a vote at the request of the Trump administration, to allow a number of technical corrections that would give the Treasury Department a greater say in the designation of sanction targets.

And despite Senate approval in mid-June, senators had to vote on the bill a second time after its passage in the House of Representatives because of a procedural requirement that revenue-generating bills originate in the House.

In a statement issued later on Tuesday, the White House said that it was treating “as advisory and non-binding” certain provisions in the act related to the waiving or termination of sanctions. Language in the bill approved by Congress gave lawmakers the ability to override sanction waivers by passing “disapproval resolutions”.




Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
JD.com Launches €2.2 Billion Bid for German Electronics Retailer Ceconomy
Azerbaijan Proceeds with Plan to Legalise Casinos on Artificial Islands
Former Judge Charged After Drunk Driving Crash Kills Comedian in Brazil
Jeff Bezos hasn’t paid a dollar in taxes for decades. He makes billions and pays $0 in taxes, LEGALLY
China Increases Use of Exit Bans Amid Rising U.S. Tensions
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Procter & Gamble to Raise U.S. Prices to Offset One‑Billion‑Dollar Tariff Cost
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
Botswana Seeks Controlling Stake in De Beers as Anglo American Prepares Exit
Trump Administration Proposes Repeal of Obama‑Era Endangerment Finding, Dismantling Regulatory Basis for CO₂ Emissions Limits
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
A family has been arrested in the UK for displaying the British flag
Mel Gibson refuses to work with Robert De Niro, saying, "Keep that woke clown away from me."
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
The British propaganda channel BBC News lies again.
Deputy attorney general's second day of meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell has concluded
Controversial March in Switzerland Features Men Dressed in Nazi Uniforms
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
×