Trump administration lets Hong Kong sanctions expire, raising questions about US-China crypto corridor

The US Treasury allowed a national emergency declaration tied to Hong Kong to expire on July 17, quietly removing sanctions on nine officials linked to Beijing’s crackdown on the city’s autonomy. The move came roughly two months after President Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in May, and it has critics asking a pointed question: why would an administration that loudly accuses China of election meddling go soft on the people who dismantled Hong Kong’s democratic institutions? What actually happened Executive Order 13936, signed by Trump himself during his first term on July 14, 2020, established a national emergency in response to Beijing imposing its national security law on Hong Kong. That emergency declaration served as the legal backbone for sanctioning officials who participated in the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy. Between 2020 and 2025, the US imposed six rounds of sanctions targeting a total of 48 officials. The expiration of the emergency declaration on July 17, 2026, specifically removed nine of those individuals from the Treasury’s OFAC sanctions lists. To be clear about what this isn’t: Hong Kong’s special economic and trade privileges, which were revoked s...