Lawmakers on Saturday said manufacturers in Hong Kong are well-prepared for any new tariff hike by Washington on Chinese imports to the United States.

Speaking after a Commercial Radio programme, technology and innovation sector lawmaker Duncan Chiu said tech manufacturers have considered other solutions amid tariff threats.

“If they have manufacturing base, they all did [a] thorough and sophisticated calculation of what tariffs will do to their company," he said.

"And some companies, if they have manufacturing bases in different countries, they would have to sort out different tariff weights between different countries, so they may shift some of the manufacturing facilities to some other nations.

"I think a lot of the heavily involved in manufacturing and production companies, they have done that calculation before.

“And in the end, if the tariff exceeds a certain percentage, it will only hit the consumers at the imposed countries.”

On the same programme, Hong Kong Productivity Council Chairman and lawmaker Sunny Tan said it was not a surprise any more for US President Donald Trump to impose tariffs on other countries and various industries had done their preparations in anticipation at such a move.

He said the productivity council would support small and medium-sized enterprises in various ways including helping them with transformation and upgrades, nurturing talent, and seeking government subsidies.

Roundtable lawmaker Michael Tien said the increased cost caused by tariffs would be transferred to consumers and would only worsen inflation in the United States.