The United States has allowed the “national emergency” related to Hong Kong to expire, a move that doesn’t restore the city’s special status, which President Donald Trump stripped away in 2020 during his first term. In a July 17 statement, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced that the president’s Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization has expired. Trump signed this executive order six years ago, declaring a national emergency in Hong Kong after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on the former British colony. The executive order, subject to annual review, revoked a number of measures that treated Hong Kong as a separate entity from mainland China, such as exceptions to export controls and preferences for its passport holders. It also paved the way for sanctions against officials undermining the city’s autonomy. ...