Biden Renews Trump Order That Ended Preferential Trade With Hong Kong

A man waves a black Hong Kong flag on a street outside the Legislative Council Complex in Hong Kong on July 1, 2019. Anthony Kwan/Getty Images

A Trump-era declaration of national emergency regarding Hong Kong will remain in effect as the Chinese communist regime continues to curtail the city’s freedoms, the Biden administration said.

In a July 10 notice, President Joe Biden told Congress that he will renew a national emergency order to deal with the “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States arising from the situation in Hong Kong.

The president indicated that Hong Kong has failed to retain enough autonomy over the past four years to qualify for a favorable trading relationship with the United States.

“The situation with respect to Hong Kong, including recent actions taken by the People’s Republic of China to fundamentally undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy, continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in substantial part outside the United States, to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” President Biden said.

As a result, Washington will continue to impose limits on exports of sensitive technology to the city, treat holders of Hong Kong passports the same as those possessing Chinese passports, and ensure that imported goods produced in Hong Kong have the “Made in China” label.

President Trump originally signed Executive Order 13936 on July 14, 2020. In 2019, mass protests took place on the streets of Hong Kong against an extradition law. Beijing then instructed the local authorities to suppress the movement.

The national security law, introduced as part of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) agenda to accelerate its authoritarian assimilation of Hong Kong, gives the Chinese regime broad power to initiate and control prosecutions of dissidents. In the name of “safeguarding national security,” the law permits the suspension of key due process rights, including the right to a public trial by jury, when dealing with what Beijing deems acts of secession or subversion of state power.

At the same time, it allows foreigners to be expelled on mere suspicion of violating the law.

In response to the deterioration of freedoms in Hong Kong, President Trump declared in his executive order that the city will no longer be treated differently from China as a separate entity, and will therefore lose special privileges it had enjoyed for decades.

“Hong Kong no longer warrants treatment under United States law in the same manner as United States laws were applied to Hong Kong before July 1, 1997,” he stated, referring to when Great Britain returned control of Hong Kong to China following a 99-year lease on the territory.

President Biden’s renewal of the order prompted the CCP regime to decry Washington’s “interference” in its governance of the city.