Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said on Thursday that Singapore had told the US it has “no technical or economic basis” for imposing tariffs on it.
“I made a point quite categorically that the US has a surplus, a trade surplus against us. In fact, it is growing,” Dr Balakrishnan said after meeting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the 59th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
“Nevertheless, you know as well as I do that the American administration, for its own domestic political reasons, needs to raise tariff revenue,” he said.
Speaking on America’s trade surplus with Singapore, the minister said he was trying to find a way to show the US that his country is not their target.
“But we also need to make sure we don’t become collateral damage in the overall scheme in which tariffs are going to be raised by the US with all its trading partners,” he added.
The new tariffs will take effect on Friday, the same day a separate round of global duties introduced earlier this year by US President Donald Trump is set to expire. Officials said the latest measures are designed to be more resilient to legal challenges.
Goods already subject to sector-specific tariffs – such as steel and aluminium – will not be affected.
Goods entering under the US-Mexico-Canada free trade pact will also be exempt, a US official told reporters.
