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The assessment has not taken into account Hong Kong people's investments in China because the Government has no accurate information on them.
However, given the substantial Hong Kong investment in the manufacturing industry in Southern China, there is reason to believe that the negative impact on Hong Kong would be greater than currently assessed.
On May 15, the US government published a US$3 billion preliminary retaliation list targeting Chinese exports to the US.
The US announced that if China failed to take action to satisfactorily implement the bilateral agreement on intellectual property rights (IPR) agreement, prohibitive tariffs would be imposed on June 17 on approximately US$2 billion worth of products drawn from the list.
In response the Chinese government announced a list of counter-retaliatory measures, to be implemented at the same time as the US retaliation.
"Given that the US and China are our two largest trading partners, Hong Kong is naturally concerned about the adverse effects on Hong Kong of any retaliation and counter-retaliation actions which the US and the Chinese governments might take, if the two sides failed to reach a mutually acceptable solution over IPR protection," the spokesman said.
"We are therefore passing our assessment to the Chinese and US governments, together with a request that they take into account Hong Kong's interests in any decisions they may take.
"Hong Kong urges both Governments to find a mutually satisfactory solution to the dispute through dialogue and discussion."
When asked about the Government's further action, the spokesman reiterated that the IPR negotiations between China and the US was a bilateral trade issue that should be resolved by the two sides through bilateral discussions. "The Hong Kong Government does not have a direct role. Hong Kong traders may wish to respond to the US Government's invitation for public comments.
"The results of our impact assessment may be helpful to them in deciding how they might be affected, and in preparing submissions to the US government arguing against the proposed retaliation.
"We will be happy to provide the trade with information and analyses for their reference," said the spokesman.