Executive Order 13936

Sanctions

The United States imposed six rounds of sanctions under this Executive Order, four of which targeted Hong Kong officials. As a result of their inclusion in the Specially Designated Nationals List, all of the property and interests in property in the United States are blocked for the sanctioned and must be reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control. All United States citizens are prohibited from transactions (including the contribution or provision of funds, goods or services) involving the property or interest of the eleven sanctioned persons.

On August 7, 2020, Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who pushed through the 2019 Hong Kong extradition bill, and five other Hong Kong government officials were sanctioned by the United States Department of the Treasury by President Trump for "undermining Hong Kong's autonomy and restricting the freedom of expression or assembly". The sanction is based on the Hong Kong Autonomy Act and Lam would be listed in the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List. Other sanctioned individuals include: Chris Tang, Commissioner of Police, under whose leadership the police besieged the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in November 2019, as well as his predecessor Stephen Lo. John Lee, the security minister who would later become the Chief Executive, was also sanctioned. Four Chinese officials were targeted in the sanction, including Xia Baolong, Luo Huining, and Zheng Yanxiong, who were respectively directors of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, Hong Kong Liaison Office, and Office for Safeguarding National Security (OSNS). On November 9, 2020, four more individuals from the OSNS and the National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police Force were sanctioned. Another round of sanction was made on December 7, 2020 by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in pursuant to the order. The entire 14 Vice Chairpersons of the National People's Congress of China were sanctioned for "undermining Hong Kong's autonomy and restricting the freedom of expression or assembly". On January 15, 2021, 6 more individuals were sanctioned. On July 16, 2021, all 7 deputy directors of the Hong Kong Liaison Office were sanctioned for their role in reducing Hong Kong's autonomy, pursuant to the 2020 Hong Kong Autonomy Act:

On March 31, 2025, the Trump administration sanctioned six more security and police officials after Beijing and Hong Kong were accused of transnational repression for attempting to "to intimidate, silence, and harass 19 pro-democracy activists who were forced to flee overseas": In particular, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam was sanctioned for developing or implementing the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance.

Country of origin marking of products

The executive order suspended the application of section 201(a) of HKPA to section 304 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S. Code § 1304), which stipulates that every article of foreign origin shall be marked the English name of the country of origin. On August 11, 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (USCBP) announced that the imported goods produced in Hong Kong could no longer indicate themselves as "Made in Hong Kong" after September 25, but must indicate "China" as the country of origin instead. This reversed the practice announced by the then-U.S. Customs Service in June 1997, which determined that goods from Hong Kong should continue to indicate their origin as "Hong Kong" after July 1, 1997.

This change does not affect the reporting for purposes of assessing duties under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States.

Immigration

The Executive Order stripped Hong Kong of favorable treatment, no longer treating it separately from the People’s Republic of China for immigration purposes. It is plausible that the U.S. Department of State may not have fully implemented the Executive Order’s mandated change. The Department of State Visa Bulletin indicates that 814 immigrant visas were issued to Foreign State Hong Kong in 2024, compared with 760 visas in 2020 and 838 in 2021. These visas might have been issued under the grandfather rule. In addition, the Adjustment of Status Filing Charts Bulletin still includes a column designated exclusively as “CHINA-mainland born” that excludes Hong Kong-born citizens.

Suspension or termination of three bilateral agreements

On August 18, 2020, the Consulate General of the United States in Hong Kong notified the government of Hong Kong that the United States had suspended or terminated three bilateral agreements: for the surrender of fugitive offenders, for the transfer of sentenced persons and for reciprocal tax exemptions on income derived from the international operation of ships. The U.S. Department of State referred to this as part of the implementation measures set forth in the executive order.

Signing of the executive order

China's ministry of foreign affairs criticized the United States for interfering in "purely China’s internal affairs", namely the implementation of a law that safeguards the country's national security. The spokesperson urged the United States to "correct its mistakes", otherwise China will give "firm response" and impose sanctions on relevant U.S. persons.

The HKSAR government, in addition to reiterating the necessity of the national security law, said the SAR's special status as a separate customs territory, under the "One Country, Two Systems" principle, is conferred by the PRC Constitution and the Hong Kong Basic Law. It warned the United States that unliteral measures that limit normal business activities would affect its own interests, and stressed that the measures imposed under Hong Kong Autonomy Act and the executive order "do not have any legal effect" on Hong Kong's financial institutions. It might also consider taking actions against the United States under the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Countersanctions

On August 11, 2020, China imposed sanctions without specification on eleven U.S. individuals, namely Senators Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Tom Cotton and Pat Toomey, Representative Chris Smith, Carl Gershman (president of the National Endowment for Democracy), Derek Mitchell (president of the National Democratic Institute), Daniel Twining (president of the International Republican Institute), Kenneth Roth (executive director of the Human Rights Watch) and Michael Abramowitz (president of Freedom House). The spokesman of the foreign ministry said the sanctioned "behaved badly" on Hong Kong-related issues. Rubio, Cruz and Smith had been put on a travel ban by China.

Criticism by the Hong Kong government

The Hong Kong government denounced the executive order as having "[politicized] juridical co-operation." As a result, the Hong Kong government announced that it had, at the central government's instruction, notified the U.S. Consulate General of the suspension of the agreements of surrender of fugitive offenders and of mutual legal assistance on criminal matters.

Hong Kong's commerce secretary Edward Yau condemned USCBP's measures, saying labelling a product from Hong Kong as "made in some other place" was "calling white black". He added that this practice did not comply with WTO rules, as it undermined Hong Kong's status as a separate customs territory.