Trump’s Hong Kong action will hurt U.S. businesses, AmCham says

President Donald Trump’s move to end Hong Kong’s special status under U.S. law will hurt the country’s business interests and deepen pessimism about the Asian financial hub’s future, the American Chamber of Commerce’s local branch said.

“We regret the revocation of Hong Kong’s special trade status with the United States under the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act, which we believe will hurt American businesses in Hong Kong,” AmCham Hong Kong said in a statement Friday.

Trump ordered an end to Hong Kong’s special status with the U.S. earlier this week, signing legislation that would sanction Chinese officials responsible for cracking down on dissent in the city. The move would have a wide-ranging impact on everything from U.S. exports and Hong Kong resident visa applications to how financial institutions in Hong Kong deal with Chinese clients.

China denounced the action as a “gross interference” in the country’s internal affairs and vowed to impose sanctions on U.S. officials and entities.

Referring to a recent survey of its members, AmCham said Trump’s move would further harm the city’s reputation, which has been hit over the last year by sometimes-violent pro-democracy protests, the Covid-19 pandemic and the recent imposition by Beijing of sweeping national security legislation. “We fear revocation of Hong Kong’s special status with the U.S. will only deepen that pessimism,” the chamber said.

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The Trump administration is cranking up attacks on China as the president seeks to strengthen his position in what appears to be an uphill re-election fight against former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. The U.S. has escalated disputes over everything from the 5G ambitions of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co. to territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

In a speech Thursday in Michigan, U.S. Attorney General William Barr criticized China for what he called a global attempt to export its dictatorship and authoritarian values. He accused U.S. firms of being short-sighted and naive about China’s long-term ambitions.

“The People’s Republic of China is now engaged in an economic blitzkrieg—an aggressive, orchestrated, whole-of-government, indeed whole-of-society, campaign to seize the commanding heights of the global economy and to surpass the United States as the world’s preeminent superpower,” Barr said.