Trump Could Expose Hong Kong Goods to Tariffs by Executive Order, Says Consultant 

Protests in Hong Kong could cut off an escape route U.S. importers have been using to avoid the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, blogged trade consultant David Trumbull Wednesday. The 1992 Hong Kong Policy Act “gives Congress and the President, or the President alone by Executive Order, the power to suspend U.S. recognition of the separate Hong Kong Customs Territory if the U.S. determines that Mainland China has suppressed Hong Kong's autonomy,” Trumbull said. “The current tension in Hong Kong, with protesters saying that China is attempting to do just that[,] could trigger President Trump to invoke the Hong Kong Policy Act and subject goods of Hong Kong origin to the Section 301 tariffs,” he said. “Companies relocating production from Mainland China to Hong Kong to avoid the Section 301 tariffs on China are getting the jitters” over concerns the U.S. could use the law to end Hong Kong’s status as a separate customs territory from China, he said.