President Donald Trump announced, on May 28, he will hold a news conference on China the next day; however, he remained mum about the subject of the conference. Despite the lack of details, Trump’s Thursday announcement was enough to send markets plunging.

Between 3:15 p.m., when reports about the May 29 news conference surfaced, and the 4:00 p.m. wrap up of the trading day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 300 points, throwing in the entire day's positive gains and ending down half a percent. CNBC tried to contact the White House for details about the impending presidential announcement but to no avail.

For a long time, the Trump administration has been criticizing and accusing Beijing of hiding details about the country's early coronavirus cases, while President Trump has publicly accused China of causing the pandemic, and its uncontrollable severity in America. Beijing, however, claims the pathogen originated in the United State's service members, but this accusation has not been backed by international health experts.

 The pressure from America recently took a serious turn in terms of a proposed Chinese security law that jeopardizes the long-established independence of Hong Kong. China’s People’s Congress officially approved this law on May 28 and it criminalizes several forms of political protest under blanket bans on sedition and subversion.

Earlier this week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo submitted a report to Congress acknowledging that Hong Kong was not autonomous from China anymore. The report was accompanied by a statement, wherein Pompeo pointed out that it cannot be asserted by any reasonable person that Hong Kong still maintains a considerable degree of autonomy from China, considering the situation in reality.

The change in Hong Kong's status puts the former British colony’s favorable trade relationship with America into jeopardy, meaning, it will no longer be spared of punishing tariffs that are trademark of the Trump administration's war with mainland China. The State Department was urged to submit a determination on Hong Kong's autonomy citing last year's pro-democracy legislation which was passed by Congress.

As far as investors are concerned, the cancelation of Hong Kong's advantaged status is the worst possible outcome of the news conference, but it's far from confirmed, CNBC reported. Trump has so far refrained from taking action on China that could damage the already strained bilateral relationship into a straight forward confrontation.

As the president of the United States, Trump is completely aware of the country's interdependence with China as not only a market or American exports but also as a supplier of manufactured goods. Moreover, he is aware that his Phase One trade deal, which was signed in Jan. 2020, will be touted as one of his presidency's high points as it fulfills an important campaign promise he made in his 2016 campaign.