Executive Order 13936


Executive Order 13936, entitled "The President’s Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization", is an executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump on July 14, 2020. On the same day Trump had signed into law Hong Kong Autonomy Act, one of the laws from which the order derives authority. The act and the executive order are the U.S. response to the imposition of a controversial national security law in Hong Kong by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China on June 30, 2020, which was described as "an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States" in the preamble.
According to Trump, he said the executive order was to "hold China accountable for its aggressive actions against the people of Hong Kong", and Hong Kong would be treated the same as China. The order directs government agencies to eliminate preferential treatments given to Hong Kong as compared to mainland China.

Background

The Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992, last amended by the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019, is the groundwork for U.S. policies that maintain relations with Hong Kong as separate from mainland China, to the extent consistent with the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, after the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong. While existing U.S. laws and certain international agreements continue to apply to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region after July 1997, section 202 of the act allows the U.S. president to issue an executive order to suspend such treatments if he determines that Hong Kong "is not sufficiently autonomous to justify treatment" different from that accorded China under U.S. laws.
In May 2020, after the Chinese National People's Congress decision on Hong Kong national security legislation was adopted, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reported to the U.S. Congress that Hong Kong was no longer autonomous. Following the enactment of the Hong Kong national security law by Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in June 2020, the U.S. Congress promptly and unanimously passed the Hong Kong Autonomy Act.

Provisions

The measures introduced in the executive order include:

Sanctions

The United States imposed six rounds of sanctions under this Executive Order, four of which targeted Hong Kong officials.

2020

In August 2020, Chief Executive Carrie Lam and ten 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.
On November 9, 2020, four more individuals who were responsible for National Security were sanctioned:
  • Li Jiangzhou, deputy director of the OSNS
  • Edwina Lau, head of the National Security Division of the Hong Kong Police Force
  • Steve Li Kwai-Wah, Senior Superintendent of the Hong Kong Police Force
  • Deng Zhonghua, deputy director of the Hong Kong & Macau Affairs Office
On December 7, 2020, pursuant to the order, the U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on the entire 14 Vice Chairpersons of the National People's Congress of China, for "undermining Hong Kong's autonomy and restricting the freedom of expression or assembly":
On January 15, 2021, 6 more individuals were sanctioned:
On 16 July 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":
  • Dong Jingwei, director of the OSNS
  • Paul Lam, Secretary for Justice, sanctioned for developing or implementing the Safeguarding National Security Law
  • Sonny Au Chi-kwong, Secretary General of CSNS, former Under Secretary for Security
  • Raymond Siu, Police Commissioner of Hong Kong Police Force
  • Dick Wong Chun-chung, Assistant Commissioner of Police, National Security, former director of the HKPF College
  • Margaret Chiu Wing-lan, Assistant Commissioner of Police, National Security, former Chief Superintendent
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 involving the property or interest of the eleven sanctioned persons.

Country of origin marking of products

The executive order suspended the application of section 201 of HKPA to section 304 of the Tariff Act of 1930, 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 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.