All goods made in Hong Kong to declare origin as 'China' starting September: US

Amid the ongoing spat between the United States and China, another development has taken place on August 11.

Starting September 25, all goods made in Hong Kong intended for export to the US will be labelled “Made in China”. This was revealed in a US government notice posted on Tuesday.

Stressful relations

Add WION as a Preferred Source

This comes after stressful relations between the two countries over China’s imposition of the controversial National Security Law in Hong Kong, which is being seen as a defiance of the “One Country, Two Systems” principle on which HK was returned to China by the UK.

In the aftermath of the law’s imposition in the city, the US ended former British colony’s special status.

This happened in the wake of already escalating bilateral tensions between the countries, and the US’ criticism of China over their handling of the COVID-19 outbreak.

After this move is enforced, Hong Kong companies will be subject to the same trade war tariffs that are levied on companies from Mainland China “should they make products subject to these duties”, as per the US Customs and Border Protection notice.

45 days from now, all goods coming in from Hong Kong “must be marked to indicate that their origin is “China”.

"No longer autonomous"

Earlier, in light of the National Security Law in the city, the US determined that the city is “no longer sufficiently autonomous to justify differential treatment in relation to China".

Trump has unleashed attacks against China on multiple fronts in a bid to get re-elected as US president as elections in the country near.

On Friday, the US had imposed sanctions on Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam along with 10 Chinese diplomats. The city’s current and former police chiefs have also been sanctioned for curtailing political freedoms in the city.

China retaliated on Monday by imposing sanctions on 11 US citizens that include lawmakers from the Republican Party.

On Monday, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that companies from China and other countries that fail to comply with US accounting standards will be delisted from the US stock exchanges starting end of 2021.