Last Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump signed two bills regarding Hong Kong in a move highly anticipated by both American human rights advocates and the Chinese government. Trump surprised skeptics and signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act (HKHRDA) and Protect Hong Kong Act into law, despite earlier statements signaling the bills would impact his administration's trade talks with China. The bills were passed by bipartisan, nearly unanimous supermajorities in both chambers of Congress, and Congress would likely have overridden a veto anyways. Trump, who is not known as a supporter of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters, hedged his signing by saying certain provisions in the bills would "interfere with the exercise of the President's constitutional authority to state the foreign policy of the U.S.," without specifying further. Still, Trump's assent was considered a major victory by Hong Kong activists who have called for democratic reforms over the months.

The Protect Hong Kong Act simply prohibits the U.S. from exporting crowd control munitions including tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, foam rounds, bean bag rounds, water cannons, handcuffs, shackles, stun guns, and tasers, to the Hong Kong police force. That law features a sunset clause to make it expire after one year. HKHRDA is the more scrutinized law, as it requires the U.S. government to sanction numerous Chinese officials deemed responsible for human rights abuses in Hong Kong, marking a major shift in American foreign policy toward the world's second largest economy. The law features 10 provisions, and they require the President to identify and impose financial and visa sanctions on individuals responsible for abductions and renditions of Hong Kong citizens. The HKHRDA is partly modeled after the Magnitsky Act, a 2012 law that authorizes the U.S. to sanction Russian human rights offenders. It also directs the Secretary of State to publish an annual report confirming whether China's treatment of Hong Kong regarding its political autonomy justifies the special treatment of the region by the U.S. The idea is that if China wants to keep Hong Kong as a launch pad for foreign capital flows, then it must allow the city a degree of autonomy as outlined in the 1997 handover treaty.

China responded harshly after the U.S. enacted the 2 laws, strongly condemning the move and vowing to "take firm countermeasures," though government spokespeople did not specify. Chinese Foreign ministry spokesman Sheng Guan urged the U.S. to not implement the HKHRDA. But the silver lining is that Chinese President Xi Jinping did not personally express displeasure to Trump. Also, the Hong Kong Acts do not seem to specifically complicate the U.S.-China trade talks, as Beijing seemed wary of signing a trade deal even before Congress passed the Hong Kong bills. However, it is likely that the issues of Hong Kong and China's Uyghur concentration camps will continue to exacerbate relations between the U.S. and China regardless of trade going forward, as part of a worsening ideological chasm.