Sponsors (6)
Official title: Require the President to remove the extension of certain privileges, exemptions, and immunities to the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices if Hong Kong no longer enjoys a high degree of autonomy from the People's Republic of China, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 15, 2026 by Jeff Merkley · Last progress January 15, 2026
The bill increases U.S. oversight and takes a stronger human-rights and national-security stance toward Hong Kong ETOs, but does so at the cost of disrupting consular/commercial/cultural engagement, adding administrative burdens, and risking politicization and heightened U.S.–China tensions.
U.S. policymakers (Congress and the State Department) gain clearer oversight and transparency because the Secretary must justify whether Hong Kong ETOs merit privileges and Congress gets review opportunity.
The Secretary can terminate HKETO privileges and operations when they pose national-security risks, enabling removal of potential intelligence or security vulnerabilities.
The bill prevents formal U.S. partnerships or taxpayer-funded promotion that could legitimize PRC or HKSAR actions—reducing the risk that U.S. programs are used for foreign influence or propaganda.
HKETOs and their staff could be forced to cease operations within 180 days, disrupting trade services, consular-like assistance, and support for residents and businesses that rely on them.
Federal, state, and local governments lose a clear, easy path to engage Hong Kong ETOs for cultural, business, or tourism programs, reducing tools that facilitate U.S.–Hong Kong commercial and cultural exchange.
Increased diplomatic pressure on the HKSAR/PRC could heighten tensions and prompt reciprocal restrictions on U.S. persons or institutions in Hong Kong, harming Americans and U.S. operations there.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Directs the Secretary of State to certify whether HKETOs merit diplomatic-style privileges, conditions federal partnerships on positive certification and no congressional disapproval, and bans U.S. government promotion of Hong Kong as autonomous while it lacks high autonomy.
Requires the Secretary of State to promptly evaluate whether Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices (HKETOs) in the United States should continue to receive diplomatic-style privileges, exemptions, and immunities, report that determination to Congress, and — if the Secretary finds they no longer merit such treatment — terminate those offices within a specified period. While preserving a short delay and a narrowly defined congressional disapproval process, the bill also bars U.S. government entities from entering partnerships with HKETOs unless the Secretary certifies they merit continued privileges and no disapproval resolution is enacted, and it declares U.S. policy forbidding U.S. agencies from promoting Hong Kong or the HKSAR government as autonomous or protective of human rights while Hong Kong lacks a high degree of autonomy. The bill tightens executive reporting and congressional review, conditions federal agreements with HKETOs on positive certification and absence of congressional disapproval, and directs U.S. agencies to avoid communications or cooperation that could be used as propaganda for PRC or HKSAR efforts to justify erosion of Hong Kong's autonomy or portray the governments as defenders of human rights and rule of law. It also directs U.S. engagement with the HKSAR government on specific human-rights concerns (political prisoners, arbitrary detention, press freedom, elections, judiciary independence).