The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce said on April 17 that a delegation of 10 to 20 members and leaders would not depart for Dallas on April 24 as scheduled due to the rapidly changing geopolitical situation. It would have been the chamber’s first visit to the US in seven years. The New People’s Party, led by Exco convenor Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, also postponed a trip to the US.
“I felt that the timing was not appropriate, particularly because [US President Donald] Trump has been stating daily that someone from China was reaching out to him,” Ip said.
“We did not want to be misunderstood [as the] people reaching out to him. Therefore, I, along with lawmaker Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung, decided to postpone our itinerary.”
Trump had claimed on April 25 that the two economic powers had held talks earlier that day to ease the trade war, contrary to Beijing’s assertion that no such discussions had taken place.
On April 28, Beijing rejected Trump’s further claims that he had received a phone call from Chinese President Xi Jinping, reiterating that the two sides had not engaged in consultations or negotiations regarding tariff issues.
Ip said her commitments meant it would be “very challenging” for her to rearrange the visit this year.
