The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government on Wednesday strongly disapproved of the United States’ imposition of an additional 10 percent duty on Hong Kong products and suspension of inbound postal items containing goods from Hongkong Post.

A spokesman for the HKSAR government said the imposition of the additional duty, set out in the Federal Register (FR) notice of the US Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security, ignores the basic fact that Hong Kong is a separate customs territory, which is recognized by the World Trade Organization and clearly stipulated in the city’s Basic Law.

“We strongly oppose any attempts to undermine Hong Kong's reputation and erode our status as a separate customs territory,” the spokesman said.

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The HKSAR government urged the US to take urgent action to rectify the FR Notice and lift the suspension of accepting inbound postal items containing goods from the Hongkong Post “as a matter of priority”.

“If the US does not rectify its wrongdoing, we will take all possible actions to defend our legitimate interests, including consider taking up the matter in the WTO," the spokesman said.

He said the HKSAR has been a staunch supporter of the rule-based multilateral trading system, maintaining constructive and mutually beneficial trade relations with its trading partners all over the world, including the US.

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The spokesman noted that, in 2023, the US was the third largest trading partner of Hong Kong, with the total merchandise trade value amounting to US$60.3 billion. At the same time, Hong Kong is the US' 27th largest trading partner.

During the past 10 years, the US has realized a trade surplus of US$271.5 billion with Hong Kong, the largest among its global trading partners, the spokesman said.

“These figures clearly demonstrate the close economic interaction between Hong Kong and the US, as well as the vast business interests of US businesses in Hong Kong," he added.