Hong Kong: The World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled that the United States is breaking international trade laws by labelling imports from Hong Kong as those from China.

The WTO decision dealt with a move by the former US administration of Mr. Donald Trump to revoke special commercial privileges for the Chinese-ruled city.

Mr. Trump made the decision – which meant goods made in the city could no longer be stamped “Made in Hong Kong” – after Beijing imposed a sweeping security law on the financial hub in 2020 to stamp out dissent.

Until 2020, the US had treated Hong Kong, which is semi-autonomous and a separate WTO member, in the same manner as before it passed from British control in July 1997, as per the report.

A three-person WTO panel found that by treating Hong Kong less favourably than the other WTO members in terms of marks of origin on its exports, the US had broken an obligation to Hong Kong. The US stated it had applied an exception allowing for measures to protect a country’s “essential security interests”.

The panel accepted that tensions between the US and Hong Kong had intensified, but insisted that they had not reached the level of “emergency in international relations” required to apply the exception. The panel concluded its 96-page report by saying the US should bring its measure into conformity with global trading rules.

The United States strongly rejects the deeply flawed WTO Panel regarding Hong Kong, China’s challenge to the requirement that its goods be marked as goods of China. We do not intend to remove the marking requirement as a result of this report. [1/3]

— Adam Hodge (@USTRSpox) December 21, 2022

The ruling drew a sharp rebuke from Washington, with US Trade Representative spokesman Mr. Adam Hodge saying the country “strongly rejects the flawed interpretation and conclusions” of the panel report.

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