US lets Hong Kong emergency expire but keeps wider order in place

The United States has allowed a national emergency declaration linked to Hong Kong's security situation to expire, US officials confirmed Friday, but Washington has not clearly said whether it will restore preferential trade treatment for the city.

The emergency was declared in July 2020, during Donald Trump's first White House term, when he stripped Hong Kong of preferential trade treatment after Beijing imposed a national security law. The order at the time said China's actions undermining Hong Kong's autonomy contributed to an unusual and extraordinary threat to US national security. It had been renewed each year until now.

China's Commerce Ministry said Friday that Washington recently confirmed to Beijing that the order would end. The ministry called the move an important step in implementing consensus reached during economic and trade talks between the two sides.

A US State Department spokesperson said Trump allowed the national emergency to lapse, but that the earlier executive order otherwise remains in effect. The spokesperson said Hong Kong is no longer sufficiently autonomous to justify different treatment from China under the US laws and provisions listed in the order.

A US Treasury Department spokesperson said 39 of 48 people affected by the emergency's expiration remain sanctioned under another law. The spokesperson said the non-renewal was consistent with efforts to modernize sanctions and avoid duplicate measures.

A Hong Kong government spokesperson said the city noted a positive shift in US policy and looked toward the resumption of normal economic and trade exchanges.

Hong Kong had received special US economic treatment, including on export controls, after Britain handed the territory back to China in 1997. Beijing later imposed a security law criminalizing subversion and other offences after large and sometimes destructive pro-democracy protests.