Politics
Trump Announces End of Preferential Treatment for Hong Kong
Washington DC, Jul 14 (EFE).- The United States' president announced on Tuesday that he has signed an order to end preferential economic and commercial treatment for Hong Kong.
Donald Trump also signed legislation that will impose new sanctions on those who crack down on rights in the semi-autonomous city.
“Hong Kong will now be treated the same as mainland China,” Trump said at a press conference in the White House's Rose Garden. “No special privileges, no special economic treatment and no export of sensitive technologies.”
“In addition to that, as you know, we are placing massive tariffs and have placed very large tariffs on China,” he added.
The move is part of Washington's retaliation for Beijing passing the contentious Hong Kong national security law, which Trump sees as oppression of the former British colony that enjoys freedoms not seen on mainland China.
Trump's decree is one step further from his announcement in May, when the president ordered his government to minimize preferential treatment for Hong Kong, a status that contributed to the special administrative region becoming a global financial center over the last two decades.
President Trump has signed a bill and executive order that he says will hold China accountable for its actions against the people of Hong Kong. The order ends U.S. preferential treatment for Hong Kong. https://t.co/R2wRXcVyTH
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 14, 2020
On Tuesday he said he now has “powerful new tools to hold responsible the individuals in the entities involved in extinguishing Hong Kong's freedom.”
He was referring to his signing into law the Hong Kong Autonomy Act, recently approved by Congress and which allows the Trump administration to impose sanctions against “foreign persons, entities, and financial institutions that contribute to China's actions to remove autonomy from Hong Kong.”
“Their freedom has been taken away, 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 said.
“A lot of people will be leaving Hong Kong, I suspect, and we are going to do a lot more business because of it because we just lost one competitor.”
Trump's announcement came hours after China sanctioned on the US-based arms company Lockheed Martin over a Taiwan arms deal amid the US' escalating tensions with Beijing over Hong Kong, the COVID-19 pandemic and other issues. EFE
© 2020 EFE News Services (U.S.) Inc.
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2 Comments
It’s such a shame the people of HK have to suffer now from our sanctions. It’s the only way to send a message other than bombs to the China adinistration to let the people have their own autonomous status. I hope the “good people” understand we’re on their side, and this is a way to get PRC to back off. Do sanctions work, though? PRC and NK so far are not responding to any sanctions except to sanction US in retaliation. This cold war stuff is so tedious. Meanwhile, PRC is still after Taiwan, stuck in the middle. This takes nerves of steel to maneuver, glad we have Big Don in charge of this, Mr. Negotiator himself. Go get ’em Big Don!
way overdue great job POTUS !!!