Trump tariffs: PSP calls for Singapore to seek new trade deal with US, work to 'address concerns'

PSP secretary-general Leong Mun Wai said the party had no intention of "downplaying" the new tariffs

A cargo ship is seen docked at Pasir Panjang port terminal in Singapore on Feb 3, 2025. 

(Photo: AFP/Roslan Rahman)

09 Apr 2025 

SINGAPORE: The Progress Singapore Party (PSP) on Wednesday (Apr 9) called on the government to secure a new trade deal with the United States in response to sweeping new tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump last week.

Such discussions may include “making adjustments to internal policies or making strategic investments in the US”, said PSP secretary-general Leong Mun Wai in a Facebook post.

“Many countries have reportedly already approached the US to seek a deal. We should take this opportunity to secure a new trade deal with President Trump and work with the US to address their concerns,” Mr Leong wrote.

[And how can we trust any deals made with Trump will be honoured by a man with no honour? Trump in his first term ripped up NAFTA (covering free trade between Canada, US and Mexico) calling it unfair to the US, and instead signed the USMCA... Which in Trump's second term (within his first 100 days), Trump called unfair to US, and broke the agreement and imposed tariffs. And this was against the WTO rules. So with a capricious, mercurial, unstable Trump in office, what deal can we make which we can be assured will be stable? Moreover, Singapore is a net importer of US goods. Trump's rant is that the US is being taken advantage of by countries that sell more to the US than they buy (which is his idiosyncratic definition of "tariff" by other countries. Singapore has NO tariffs (see World Bank chart below) and NO trade surplus with the US. So what "concerns" of the US can we allay?]

Tariffs Rates of Countries. World Bank Data.

The party’s comments come in response to Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s ministerial statement in parliament on Tuesday, when he announced that a national task force will be formed to help businesses and workers navigate the impact of the tariffs, which are expected to dampen economic growth.

PSP’s Mr Leong added that Mr Wong’s message to Singaporeans that they should "not fear" the new tariffs was something that the party shared.

He stressed that the PSP had “no intention of downplaying the new tariffs”, which he called a “game-changer” that likely marked the end of the post-war free trade system that had underpinned Singapore’s prosperity.

The party had earlier described messages from various Singapore ministers warning of the potential impact of the tariffs as “overblown”, suggesting they might be intended to stir fear among voters ahead of the General Election.

On Wednesday, Mr Leong acknowledged the concern among Singaporeans about job security and the anxiety that the turmoil in financial markets has caused, particularly among those who depend on their investments for retirement.

Citing Singapore's "good track record" in navigating its way through the 1997 Asian Currency Crisis, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003 and the COVID-19 pandemic, he expressed confidence that the country will be "able to find our way forward to adapt to a new era of deglobalisation and protectionism".

He added that, given Singapore’s economy and diverse society, the “right approach to dealing with adversity is to have free contestation of ideas, and not groupthink”.

“As a nation, we will be stronger if we can have robust policy debates with different views expressed in parliament as we adapt to this new world order.”

Mr Leong added that Singapore is at a “key inflection point” that could either strengthen the country’s status as a regional economic powerhouse or sideline it as a global trade hub, and hoped that the government would be able to secure the “best deal” for Singapore.

The tariffs, announced by US President Donald Trump on Apr 2, impose a universal 10 per cent tariff on all imports into the country, with higher rates for countries deemed to have treated the US "unfairly".

Singapore, which currently imposes zero tariffs on US imports, is still subject to the baseline 10 per cent rate.

On Tuesday, Mr Wong, who is also finance minister, said that Singapore’s task force will help businesses and workers address immediate uncertainties, strengthen resilience and adapt to a new economic landscape.

The task force will be chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong.

Mr Gan, who also spoke in parliament on Tuesday, said that the government has reached out to Singapore’s trading partners to share its assessment of the situation and find different ways of working together.

On Tuesday, the Workers’ Party (WP) also called for all options to be considered in response to the tariffs, adding that Singapore should immediately start bilateral negotiations and that "no response should be ruled out, given the unprecedented nature of the act".

WP said Singapore should make use of existing dispute resolution mechanisms, including those under the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization.

[As I have commented above, we are dealing with a capricious, unstable, "stable genius" with no honour. Such people cannot be negotiated with. The "Artist of the Deal" starts by hitting you over the head, and then proceeds to offer to stop hitting you over the head in exchange for some concession on your part. That's not negotiation. That's extortion or bullying.]

It also proposed leveraging existing ties with US business groups and institutions such as the American Chamber of Commerce and the Congressional Singapore Caucus “to argue our case”.

Singapore's free trade agreement (FTA) with the US provides for counter tariffs, but Mr Gan reiterated on Tuesday that Singapore does not anticipate levying retaliatory import duties on the US for now.

“We are first going to embark on a consultation … to first understand what their concerns are that caused them to introduce this basic tariff rate. And eventually, whether or not we want to take action is something that we will have to consider,” he said.

[The opposition are right. This will be a GE issue. And the PAP will ask the voters, who do you feel confident to work our way out of this situation. And every voter will have to answer that question for themselves. Trust the PAP's experience? Or trust the opposition's experience?]