Trump to raise Hong Kong Jimmy Lai case in China trade talks

8/5/2025 17:45

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he would raise the case of jailed Hong Kong activist and former media tycoon Jimmy Lai as "part of the negotiation" with China over trade and tariffs, a move that could further stoke tensions with Beijing.



"I think talking about Jimmy Lai is a very good idea," Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt on Wednesday. "We'll put it down, and we'll put it down as part of the negotiation."



Top senior U.S. officials are due to meet with China's top economic official on Saturday in Switzerland, a fledgling step amid a trade war stemming from Trump's often chaotic tariff policies that have hurt the global economy and roiled markets.



Trump, however, said he wasn't willing to cut Chinese tariffs to get Beijing to the negotiating table. Adding Jimmy Lai's case into the mix -- long a diplomatic friction point between the two sides -- could bring further complications.



"Look, they (China) want to make a deal so badly. That, I can tell you. But we've been talking," Trump said during the radio interview.



The trial of Lai -- a longstanding critic of the Chinese Communist Party -- has shone a spotlight on a sweeping crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong following China's imposition of a national security law (NSL) in 2020.



Countries such as the U.S. and Britain have called for Lai's release and say his trial amounts to political persecution.



Beijing rejects these claims and says Lai is getting a fair trial under the NSL, which it says has brought stability to Hong Kong after mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.