Hong Kong to file complaint with WTO over US tariffs
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Goods exported from Hong Kong to the US in 2023 made up only 0.1 per cent of the city’s total exports.
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HONG KONG – Hong Kong will file a complaint with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in response to heightened US tariffs on its goods, a government spokesperson said on Feb 7, days after Beijing announced a similar move.
US President Donald Trump over the weekend launched the opening salvo in an escalating trade war with China, imposing a 10 per cent tariff hike on goods
A spokesperson for the financial hub said on Feb 7 that the Hong Kong government “will formally launch procedures in accordance with the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism against the US’ unreasonable measures to defend our legitimate rights”.
The US tariffs are “grossly inconsistent with the relevant WTO rules and ignore our status as a separate customs territory”, the spokesperson said, adding that the government “strongly opposes” the measures.
Mainland China also filed a complaint with the WTO
After reverting to Chinese rule in 1997, Hong Kong has been run as a special administrative region and is classed as a separate customs territory.
It has been a WTO member for three decades.
Hong Kong’s Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Algernon Yau said on Feb 6 that the tariffs “are not expected to have a large impact”.
Goods exported from Hong Kong to the US in 2023 were valued at around HK$6.1 billion (S$1.04 billion) and made up only 0.1 per cent of the city’s total exports, Mr Yau added.
City officials have for years tread a fine line by insisting Hong Kong is a separate entity in international trade but politically an “inalienable part” of China.
The US removed Hong Kong’s special trading privileges in 2020 after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on the former British colony to curb dissent.
Mr Trump at the time said in an executive order that Hong Kong was “no longer sufficiently autonomous to justify differential treatment in relation to (China)”. AFP
