HONG KONG – The Transport and Logistics Bureau will lead Hong Kong's logistics enterprises in adopting five major strategies to cope with the reckless tariff imposition by the United States, including a further increase in the so-called reciprocal tariffs.

This was revealed at a meeting of the Logistics Development Council on Monday, where Mable Chan, secretary for transport and logistics and chair of the council, listened to the logistics industry’s views on ways to tackle the situation together.

The five strategies are exploring emerging markets, strengthening collaboration with ports located in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area with a view to developing new cargo sources together, exempting the import and export license requirements for certain products to attract more transshipment cargo, deepening international port and shipping co-operation, and expanding the maritime and aviation networks, according to the government.

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The ultimate aim is to identify new growth points for Hong Kong’s logistics industry, thereby consolidating and enhancing the city’s status and competitiveness as an international maritime center, international aviation hub and international logistics hub, it added.

Speaking at the meeting, Chan said that although the industry is worried about the ongoing uncertainty of the trade environment, it remains firm against the adversary and is actively exploring ways to cope with the situation.

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“The Transport and Logistics Bureau will be in solidarity with the trade and counter the challenge to Hong Kong and the industry together with determination and confidence,” she said.

The bureau will play a leading role in providing more specific guidance on the development of the industry and assisting the industry in coping with the market restructuring, she added.

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The government said the bureau will also work with Customs and other relevant government departments to implement more initiatives to facilitate the industry’s development, thereby further enhancing the SAR’s role as a transshipment hub.

Such trade facilitation measures include the expansion of the Single E-lock Scheme, the Free Trade Agreement Transshipment Facilitation Scheme, and the Air-Land Fresh Lane, it added.