Trump Set To Sanction Carrie Lam: Report

The Trump Administration is poised to announce sanctions against Chief Executive Carrie Lam and other officials accusing them of curtailing freedoms in Hong Kong, Bloomberg reported on Friday evening.

The report said the move could be announced in the coming hours.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg said the sanctions would also target Communist Party officials.

The Hong Kong Autonomy Act, which the US president signed last month, allows him to impose sanctions and visa restrictions on Chinese officials and financial institutions involved in the imposition of Beijing's new national security law in Hong Kong.

On Friday, the US Consulate in Hong Kong issued a statement saying Washington is "deeply concerned about the chilling effect the law may have on civil society, the media, and on the public’s ability to exercise the freedoms of speech, expression, and assembly that they have enjoyed heretofore".

"The National Security Law seeks to create an atmosphere of fear and self-censorship. It would be an enormous tragedy if it crushed the very openness, diversity, and vitality that are at the heart of what makes Hong Kong so unique," it added.