Singapore and the US still in early stages of tariff negotiations, says Vivian Balakrishnan
Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said he had fairly extensive discussions on tariffs during his visit to the US. ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH
Singapore and the US still in early stages of tariff negotiations, says Vivian Balakrishnan
SINGAPORE – It will be some time yet before countries can know for certain the final shape of the United States' tariff regime against virtually all its trading partners.
This is as, aside from the revisions and legal challenges to the trade barriers that have been announced, it is clear that the US is looking to conduct multiple rounds of bilateral negotiations with its trading partners, which will take time, said Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan on June 7.
His meetings with US senators and members of Congress also showed there was bipartisan recognition between the Republicans and Democrats that trade, investment, intellectual property protection, reliability and supply chain security remain vital issues to the Americans, he added.
In a video call with the Singapore media to wrap up his five-day visit to Washington, Dr Balakrishnan said both sides reaffirmed the strong and stable bilateral relationship during his visit.
'The relationship with the United States is a vital, critical one for Singapore – it spans the entire gamut ... the economy, defence, security, and we're also pursuing emerging opportunities in areas like cyber security and energy,' he said.
'So it's a relationship which needs to be tended to, and attended to carefully.'
In his meetings with senior US administration officials and members of Congress, Dr Balakrishnan conveyed Singapore's appreciation for the bipartisan support that enabled bilateral cooperation to flourish across a wide range of areas.
Both sides also expressed commitment to continued constructive engagement and to advance cooperation in both traditional areas such as defence, as well as new and emerging areas such as critical technologies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Dr Balakrishnan told reporters he had fairly extensive discussions on tariffs during his visit, including their impact on open economies like Singapore, and that his US counterparts understood his perspective.
At his meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on June 4, Dr Balakrishnan said he raised the impact of the US tariff s, a nd came away assured that the measures were not directed at Singapore.
'Nevertheless, I expressed our concern with the secondary impact, because any impact on global trade, any friction in the system, will have an impact on an open economy like ours, where our trading volume is three times our GDP,' he said. 'So that point needed to be made.'
Manufacturing activity in Singapore shrank for the second consecutive month in May on the back of global trade uncertainty, according to purchasing managers' index figures released on June 2.
Dr Balakrishnan said he 'made the point repeatedly' to his US counterparts that America has a trade surplus against Singapore, and that the city-state should not be subjected even to the baseline 10 per cent tariff.
That said, Singapore is more concerned with sectoral tariffs, and will be looking at them 'very carefully' so as to minimise these as much as possible, he said.
The majority of US President Donald Trump's sweeping 'Liberation Day' tariffs announced on April 2 have been paused for 90 days, but on June 4, Mr Trump signed an order to double tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from 25 per cent to 50 per cent.
In May, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong said there were early indications that Washington was open to discussing how the Republic could ensure a continued supply of semiconductors to the US, and that talks were on for preferential or even zero US tariffs on Singapore's pharmaceutical exports.
Dr Balakrishnan said: 'We're still in the early stages of our discussions and negotiations, so let's watch this space.'
Responding to a question from the media on whether he faced any challenges engaging US officials on his visit, he said there were no hurdles to interactions with the Americans.
'They were very welcoming, courteous. We got along in our own usual direct and constructive manner, so I have no anxiety on that front,' he said.
The anxiety is that the world order that had prevailed for 80 years and which helped Singapore to succeed – premised on free trade and the free flow of investments – is clearly changing, and this period of transition is 'the time of greatest danger', he added.
This is a time when the Republic needs to be alert and prompt in responding to change, said Dr Balakrishnan.
'And it is also important to interact frequently, candidly, openly and constructively with our interlocutors, and especially with a superpower which is of great strategic importance to us,' he added.
'So what's important is to recognise that situation has changed, to be able to have complete, comprehensive and candid conversations, and then for us to take the appropriate precautionary measures or to make the necessary adjustments domestically as well.'
Prior to being in Washington, Dr Balakrishnan met the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Lammy in London, with whom he discussed economic ties, geostrategic issues and potential areas of cooperation.
Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
4 hours ago
- Straits Times
Chinese students reconsidering the US as Republicans threaten their visas
AUSTIN, Texas – Over lunch at the University of Texas at Austin, a professor from China and two Chinese students spoke dispiritedly this past week of the directive issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to 'aggressively revoke' visas of Chinese nationals studying in 'critical fields'. They also talked about a Republican bill in Congress that would ban Chinese student visas to the United States. Even if such matters never come to pass, said Xiaobo Lu, a professor of government at the university in Austin, 'the damage is already being done'. 'Chinese students are practical,' he said. 'They now have to consider whether, if they come to America, their studies will be disrupted. There's no removing that uncertainty. That ship has sailed.' The two students accompanying Prof Lu to lunch, who asked not to be named for fear that their visa status might be at risk, described several recent conversations with Chinese friends. One had decided to turn down offers at two prestigious American journalism schools and had opted instead for the programme at the University of Hong Kong. Another said no to a coveted slot at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in favour of a modest local government job. A third Chinese friend, currently studying at Johns Hopkins University, is mulling whether to pack his bags and finish his degree back home. Their accounts align with sentiments shared by a senior academic official at the University of Texas, who said that several excellent graduate school candidates from China had withdrawn their applications. The official added that a number of Chinese students on the Austin campus were afraid to criticise the measures. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because he shared those fears. There are about 1,400 Chinese students on the Austin campus. A spokesperson for the university said that its administrators would have no comment. The chilling effect that has overtaken some Chinese nationals in the United States on student visas comes as the Trump administration and its allies have suggested that their presence constitutes a national security threat. Such assertions, combined with the continuing trade war with China, represent an increasingly strident anti-China sentiment among conservative officials, even as their states wrestle with the benefits and drawbacks of having Chinese students in their colleges and universities. The bill in Congress, called the Stop CCP Visas Act, was introduced in March by Representative Riley Moore, a freshman Republican from West Virginia who said in an interview that 'we're going to push hard for it'. Its prospects in the House are uncertain, and it has little chance of passing in the Senate, where it would need Democratic support to achieve a filibuster-proof supermajority. The timing of the legislation is also curious, given that Chinese student enrollment in the United States has fallen by more than 25 per cent, from about 370,000 in 2019 to roughly 277,000 in the 2023-24 academic year, according to data from the Institute of International Education. Critics say that even if the bill goes nowhere, its message and Mr Rubio's directive will alienate foreign students who are considering the United States. 'Why take the chance to come here when you know that some new policy might disrupt your studies?' said Eddie West, the assistant vice-president for international affairs for California State University, Fresno. 'And you could understand if a family in India is looking at this and saying, 'Are we going to be targeted next?'' Of the Chinese citizens whose visas would be revoked by his bill, Mr Moore was dismissive of the idea that they were here simply studying. 'Maybe some are,' he said. He added that a law passed in 2017 by the Chinese government, the National Intelligence Law, stipulates that citizens living abroad must support their home country's intelligence-gathering efforts. Of the estimated 15 per cent of Chinese nationals who receive government scholarships to study abroad, he said, 'they have to regularly report back to the diplomatic mission. They are active spies'. Mr Moore did not provide evidence to support his claims. The two University of Texas students, and eight other Chinese students and faculty members interviewed for this article, said they had never once interacted with their government back home, other than during the visa procurement process. Mr Moore did cite three instances over the past three years when Chinese students had been charged with attempting to gain access to US military information. He said his views on Chinese students were validated by an investigative report published last month by The Stanford Review, a conservative newspaper published by Stanford University students. The article, 'Uncovering Chinese Academic Espionage at Stanford,' relied on anonymous sources and concluded, 'In short, there are Chinese spies at Stanford.' But the only person named as a spy was a former Stanford researcher, Chen Song, who was charged with visa fraud in 2020 for what the Justice Department said was lying about her affiliation with the Chinese military. The Stanford Review story did not mention that the Justice Department withdrew the fraud charge and four other charges against Song a year later. A prominent Stanford faculty member quoted in the article, political sociologist Larry Diamond, reaffirmed to The New York Times his concern about 'the dangers of China penetrating our systems and ripping off our technology'. But, Mr Diamond said: 'I am completely opposed to Moore's legislation and think it would be incredibly destructive to our interests. 'This takes a blind sledgehammer to a problem that needs highly targeted tools.' Jessica Chen Weiss, a professor of China studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, said that a vast majority of Chinese students in the United States are not here to spy or obtain information for their government. 'Chinese students who come to the United States want to stay and contribute,' she said, adding that three-quarters of Chinese graduate students in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math stay in the United States. The number is even higher for doctoral students in artificial intelligence, she noted. Democratic Representative Grace Meng of New York, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, said in a statement that the legislation was 'xenophobic and wrongheaded'. She pointed to a survey earlier this year by The Asian American Foundation that found more than 1 in 4 Americans viewed Chinese Americans as a threat to American society. She added that Mr Moore's initiative, if passed, 'would send a dangerous message that people of Chinese descent – and Asian Americans more broadly – do not belong in this country'. Mr Moore said that he had not discussed the extent of any threat posed by Chinese students with his state's flagship college, West Virginia University, where around 130 Chinese students are enrolled. University officials declined to comment for this article. One of the bill's seven Republican co-sponsors, Representative Brandon Gill of Texas, said in a statement that 'it's time we start taking seriously the threat of the Chinese Communist Party and the hundreds of thousands of students they send to American universities each year, many of whom have been traced back to its espionage operations'. The statement provided no evidence for that assertion. Along with Mr Gill, five other co-sponsors – Representatives Troy Nehls of Texas, Andy Ogles of Tennessee, Burgess Owens of Utah, Addison McDowell of North Carolina and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania – represent districts in states that President Donald Trump won in November. Republican Senator Ashley Moody of Florida, where Mr Trump was also victorious in November, introduced a similar bill in the Senate. Each of these states has universities with large Chinese student populations, including the president's alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, with more than 2,000 Chinese students, according to the most recent public data. 'We're literally skimming off the best and brightest China has to offer,' said Peter Lorge, a professor specialising in Chinese military history at Vanderbilt University, which has more than 700 Chinese students. 'They're fighting to come here, and their own country is struggling to get them to come back. The idea that we'd turn them away is baffling to me.' Mr David Firestein, the president of the George H.W. Bush Foundation for US-China Relations, said in an interview that the thousands of current and former Chinese students living in Texas contribute roughly US$500 million (S$644 million) annually to the state's economy. 'Banning them would be devastating to both our universities and to the state of Texas as a whole,' he said. His comments were echoed by Di Wang, a professor of history at Texas A&M from 1998 to 2015, who said in an interview that A&M's 'large number of professors and students from China have made substantial contributions to the education, research and exchanges between the people of the US and China'. Prof Wang described the current approach by Mr Rubio and Mr Moore as 'shortsighted, extreme and detrimental to the US. It would alienate many young Chinese who have a favourable view of the US and wish to learn from it'. Mr Moore scoffed at the idea that Chinese students experiencing life in an open society would have a salutary effect. 'They've been getting exposed to democratic values since Richard Nixon,' he said. 'That whole paradigm of, 'Let's introduce the free market into China and eventually democracy will flourish' – that's never happened.' Prof Weiss said that Mr Moore's bill could have unintended consequences for US security. During the Red Scare era of the 1950s, she said, a leading rocket scientist, Qian Xuesen, 'was prevented from continuing his scientific career in the United States,' even though he helped found the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. Instead, Qian returned to China, where he helped develop China's ballistic missile system. Mr Lu, the University of Texas government professor, also referred to the saga of Qian as an example of how the significant contributions by Chinese scholars can be imperiled by fixating on unsubstantiated suspicions. 'It would be like a doctor treating a small skin rash on a shoulder,' he said, 'by amputating the whole arm.' NYTIMES Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
AsiaOne
5 hours ago
- AsiaOne
Thailand and Cambodia reinforcing troops on disputed border after May skirmish, Thai minister says, Asia News
BANGKOK -Thailand has reinforced its military presence along a disputed border with Cambodia, following an increase in troops on the other side, Thailand's defence minister said on Saturday (June 7). Tensions between the two Southeast Asian countries have been simmering since a Cambodian soldier was killed on May 28 in a brief conflict in an undemarcated border area. For days, the two Southeast Asian governments have been exchanging carefully worded statements committing to dialogue. But Phumtham Wechayachai, who also serves as Thailand's deputy prime minister, said Cambodia had rejected proposals in bilateral talks held on Thursday that could have led to a de-escalation. "Furthermore, there has been a reinforcement of military presence, which has exacerbated tensions along the border," Phumtham said in a statement. "Consequently, the Royal Thai Government has deemed it necessary to implement additional measures and to reinforce our military posture accordingly." He did not provide details on the extent of reinforcements by either side. In a separate statement on Saturday, the Thai army said Cambodian soldiers and civilians had repeatedly made incursions into Thailand's territory. "These provocations, and the build-up of military forces, indicate a clear intent to use force," the Thai army said, adding that it would take control of all Thai checkpoints along the border with Cambodia. Although border checkpoints between the two countries remain open, they may gradually become more restrictive, ranging from earlier closing times to complete closures, depending on security assessments in each area, Thai army spokesperson Winthai Suvaree said. Thailand currently operates 17 official border crossings with Cambodia, spanning seven provinces along their shared 817-km (508 miles) frontier, government data shows. A spokesperson for Cambodia's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters on the Thai army's announcement. "This is our stance, not to initiate conflict, but to defend ourselves," Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said in speech earlier on Saturday. [[nid:716740]] "Our guiding principles are ... respect for international legal frameworks. These grounded strategies are key to safeguarding our nation's sovereignty," he said, adding that its armed forces were ready to defend against aggression. Thailand remains committed to pursuing bilateral dialogue as a means to restore stability, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday. "The Thai side reaffirms its readiness to engage through established bilateral mechanisms, particularly the upcoming meeting of the Thailand-Cambodia Joint Boundary Commission (JBC), scheduled for June 14," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nikorndej Balankura told reporters. "We sincerely hope that the negotiations will proceed in good faith", he added. The military reinforcements come despite efforts by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is the current chair of the Southeast Asian Asean bloc, and China to reduce tensions. Thailand and Cambodia have for more than a century contested sovereignty at various undemarcated points along their 817 km (508 miles) land border, which was first mapped by France in 1907 when Cambodia was its colony. Tension escalated in 2008 over an 11th-century Hindu temple, leading to skirmishes over several years and at least a dozen deaths, including during a week-long exchange of artillery in 2011. Current governments in both countries, however, have enjoyed warm ties. Former leaders Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand and Cambodia's Hun Sen have had a close relationship, and Thaksin's daughter and Hun Sen's son are now the incumbent prime ministers of their countries. Still, nationalist sentiment has risen in Thailand and the Thai military said on Friday it is ready to launch a "high-level operation" to counter any violation of its sovereignty. Cambodia said this week it would refer disputes over four parts of the border to the International Court of Justice and asked Thailand to co-operate. Phumtham reiterated in his Saturday statement that Thailand does not recognise the jurisdiction of the court and proposed that all boundary-related issues be resolved through bilateral negotiations.
Straits Times
13 hours ago
- Straits Times
Trump says Musk to face ‘very serious consequences' if he funds Democrats
US President Donald Trump (left) told NBC News he had no desire to repair his relationship with billionaire Elon Musk. PHOTO: AFP Trump says Musk to face 'very serious consequences' if he funds Democrats BEDMINSTER, New Jersey - Donald Trump said on June 7 there would be 'serious consequences' if Elon Musk funds US Democrats running against Republicans who vote for the president's sweeping tax-cut and spending Bill and said his relationship with his billionaire donor is over. In a telephone interview with NBC News, Mr Trump declined to say what those consequences would be, and went on to add that he had not had discussions about whether to investigate Mr Musk. Asked if he thought his relationship with the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive officer was over, Mr Trump said, 'I would assume so, yeah.' 'No,' Mr Trump told NBC when asked if he had any desire to repair his relationship with Mr Musk. Mr Musk and Mr Trump began exchanging insults this week, as Mr Musk denounced Mr Trump's Bill as a 'disgusting abomination.' Mr Musk's opposition to the measure is complicating efforts to pass the Bill in Congress, where Republicans hold a slim majority in the House of Representatives and Senate. The Bill narrowly passed the House in May and is now before the Senate, where Mr Trump's fellow Republicans are considering making changes. Nonpartisan analysts estimate the measure would add US$2.4 trillion (S$3 trillion) to the US debt over 10 years. Mr Trump said on June 7 he was confident the Bill would get passed by the US July 4 Independence Day holiday. 'In fact, yeah, people that were, were going to vote for it are now enthusiastically going to vote for it, and we expect it to pass,' Mr Trump told NBC. Mr Musk had deleted some social media posts critical of Mr Trump, including one that signalled support for impeaching the president, appearing to seek a de-escalation of their public feud, which exploded on June 5. Mr Trump late on June 6 suggested a review of federal government contracts held by Mr Musk. People who have spoken to Mr Musk said his anger has begun to recede and they think he will want to repair his relationship with Mr Trump. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
