The Chinese Commerce Ministry announced on Friday that the United States government will not renew an executive order that previously revoked Hong Kong’s special trade status. The decision follows a May meeting in Beijing between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. China’s Commerce Ministry stated that the lapse of the order represents a fulfillment of consensus reached during previous bilateral trade negotiations.
The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control confirmed that the national emergency declared in the 2020 executive order has expired. While several Hong Kong officials, including leader John Lee and predecessor Carrie Lam, were removed from the sanctions list associated with that specific order, they were concurrently added to a different list under a separate act related to Hong Kong. The White House referred specific inquiries regarding the policy change to the Treasury Department.
The original executive order was signed by President Trump in 2020 in response to Beijing's implementation of a national security law in Hong Kong. The order had determined that Hong Kong no longer maintained sufficient autonomy to warrant differential treatment from mainland China. The Hong Kong government issued a statement welcoming the shift, expressing hope for the resumption of normal economic and trade exchanges between the two regions.