CHINA

Hong Kong Appeals Tariff Plan: Hong Kong is expected to step up efforts to get the U.S. government to reconsider its tentative plans for applying punitive tariffs on Chinese products in retaliation for Beijing’s failure to enforce intellectual property rights. Washington has threatened to impose the tariffs on many of China’s products unless a dispute over its complaint that the Chinese breach U.S. companies’ copyrights and patents is settled by Jan. 16. Hong Kong companies could lose up to 7,200 jobs and $200 million in sales and services if Washington imposes high tariffs on all the items on a list of products singled out as potential targets for trade retaliation, according to the colony’s Ministry of Trade and Industry. Two-thirds of the Chinese products on the list are shipped to Hong Kong for re-export to the United States.