The Trump administration is crafting a range of options to punish China over its tightening grip on Hong Kong, including targeted sanctions, new tariffs and further restrictions on Chinese companies, according to U.S. officials and people familiar with the discussions.
Such moves could mark the opening salvoes of the U.S. response as President Donald Trump weighs how far he is prepared to go after the State Department’s assessment on Wednesday that Hong Kong is no longer autonomous enough from Beijing to deserve special treatmentInternal U.S. deliberations, unfolding amid increased U.S.-China tensions over the coronavirus pandemic, are continuing and final decisions have yet to be made, the sources said on condition of anonymity.
Still uncertain is whether Trump would be prepared to deploy what has been called the “nuclear option” – stripping Hong Kong of its special economic status that the United States has conferred on it since the end of British rule more than two decades ago. David Stilwell, assistant Secretary of State for East Asia, said the long list of potential U.S. responses could be “across the spectrum,” including visa and economic sanctions. He declined to elaborate but said measures would be calibrated to mitigate the impact on Hong Kong people and U.S. businesses there.
Another option under consideration would call for suspending Hong Kong’s preferential tariff rates for exports to the United States, three sources told Reuters. Such action could put Hong Kong’s goods under the same tariffs that Trump has slapped on exports from the Chinese mainland, they said.
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