Singapore fears that tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump will trigger a global trade war that would be particularly damaging to smaller countries that rely on trade, Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan told the Financial Times.
“What we fear most is that such a package will shake the global trading system to its core“, the minister said, adding that in that case the situation would become “very hostile to small countries”, including Singapore. "This is a global trade war that we really fear," the foreign minister said.
Balakrishnan also believes that the trade war has come at "the worst possible time for both China and its trading partners," including Singapore.
The US tariff on imports from Singapore, a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), will be 10%, and for the Philippines - 17%. For Laos, the additional tariffs reach 48%, Vietnam - 46%, Indonesia - 32%, Malaysia - 24%.