(Bloomberg) — Singapore’s top trade official warned that a barrage of actions from the US and other countries risks undermining global economic growth, in some of the strongest public comments underscoring concerns in the trade-reliant nation.
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“Many of us here in Asia watch with anxiety President Donald Trump’s tariffs on the US’ three largest trading partners, and his plans for more,” Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong said Wednesday at CNBC’s Converge Live in Singapore. Even if not all of Asia is directly affected, the impact of rising tariffs and trade wars could cause major disruptions to supply chains and slow trade and investment flows, he said.
That would “significantly set back the growth of the global economy,” said Gan, who is also minister for trade and industry.
Singapore built much of its success on having an open economy and strategically located port, and remains a key exporter of higher-value-added goods including electronics and pharmaceuticals. But along with other trade-dependent nations, it has closely tracked the US president as he unleashes tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, rattling markets and drawing retaliation from Ottawa and Beijing.
A sweeping 25% US tariff on steel and aluminum imports to America is set to take effect Wednesday. Other countries have also followed in Washington’s footsteps, imposing trade restrictions on or looking into China’s steel exports.
Read: World Facing Trump Tariffs Watches Canada Test Ways to Push Back
Singapore has previously signaled its concerns at the global developments. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong described a “fragmented and troubled world” and “turbulent external environment” in his budget speech last month.
“New walls are being erected – not of concrete, but in the form of economic and trade barriers,” Wong said on Feb. 18.
And Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen last month said that Asian perspectives of the US have shifted dramatically.
“The image has changed from liberator to great disruptor to a landlord seeking rent,” he said at a round-table discussion at the Munich Security Conference, according to a text of his remarks posted on a government website.
Read: Singapore Says Asia Sees US as ‘Landlord Seeking Rent’
But Gan did sound an optimistic note on Asia, projecting it to expand from just under 50% of the global economy today to around 60% by 2030. He cited young and growing populations in countries including Indonesia, India and Vietnam, along with a rising middle class and good physical and digital connectivity.
