President Trump suggested Friday that he might veto a bipartisan Hong Kong human rights bill because it could complicate a trade deal he is negotiating with China.
“I stand with freedom, I stand with all of the things that I want to do, but we are also in the process of making one of the largest trade deals in history,” he said in an appearance on Fox News Friday morning. “And if we could do that, it would be great.”
White House sources had previously indicated that Trump would sign legislation passed by Congress on Wednesday to express support for Hong Kong protesters. The legislation, dubbed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, passed the House Wednesday, 417 to 1. It passed the Senate by voice vote the next day. The legislation would authorize sanctions against Chinese officials and tie a review of China’s trade status with the United States to its human rights record.
Trump’s administration and China have been struggling to complete “phase one” of a trade agreement with Beijing that was initially announced on Nov. 11. The deal has been gridlocked over how the terms would be committed to writing and whether the administration would remove some of the tariffs on $550 billion worth of Chinese imports it has imposed.
“We have a deal potentially very close,” Trump said.
