US lets 2020 Hong Kong order expire, easing some sanctions

The United States has allowed a 2020 executive order targeting Hong Kong to expire, a move China cast as a step toward restoring some of the city’s special treatment in trade. China’s Commerce Ministry said Washington recently confirmed that the Hong Kong Normalization order would end, following trade talks in Madrid last year. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said the national emergency under that order had expired and delisted people covered by it. But it also moved some names, including Hong Kong leader John Lee and former leader Carrie Lam, onto a different sanctions list under another Hong Kong-related law. The shift comes two months after President Donald Trump met Xi Jinping in Beijing and could ease tensions before Xi’s expected US visit later this year.