Hong Kong's nearly six months of turmoil began with a now-shelved Online Cigarettes Store USA bill to allow extraditions to China, which revived fears that Beijing was slicing into the city's freedoms.
Millions of angry citizens have taken to the streets or disrupted the transport network in a movement that snowballed into wider calls for free elections and an inquiry into alleged police brutality, demands that Hong Kong's Beijing-appointed leaders have rebuffed.
The troubles have already tipped Hong Kong's economy into recession and the threat of change in trade status brought Newport Cigarettes Shop fresh gloom.
Hong Kong is a semi-autonomous Chinese region and US policy treats its economy as separate from the rest of China.
That has been a key factor in the city's rise as an international financial hub, and left it exempt from the crippling tariffs imposed by Trump's administration.
The new US bill would require an annual review of that status, which could be revoked if the city's unique Newport box 100s cigarettes freedoms are quashed.
"If the bill becomes law, investors will be hesitant to take on the risk," Hao Hong, head of research at Bocom International, told Bloomberg News. "There are too many moving parts, it’s very tricky."
US and Chinese negotiators are working toward a trade agreement, and markets had rallied in recent weeks on optimism it will be signed off soon.