US President Donald Trump took two actions against China in response to Beijing’s moves on Hong Kong on Tuesday, signing an executive order ending the city’s preferential trade treatment, and enacting a bill that would require sanctions against foreign individuals and banks for contributing to the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy, reported the South China Morning Post.
“Hong Kong will now be treated the same as mainland China,” Trump said in a news conference in the Rose Garden at the White House. “No special privileges, no special economic treatment, and no export of sensitive technologies.”
The latest move by Trump could open up Hong Kong to the tariffs his administration has slapped on Chinese exports over the course of the trade war that has raged between Washington and Beijing for the past two years.