China remained in the 28th place, the best of the five BRICS members, according to the World Economic Forum's flagship "Global Competitiveness Report" released on Tuesday.

The report says China has shown great competitiveness in innovation, communication technology and market scale.

Singapore, scored 84.8 out of 100, has overtaken the U.S. to become the most competitive nation in the world, according to the report.

When asked about the impact of the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, Saadia Zahidi, a forum managing director, said, "There are no two ways (about) it. It is important to ensure the countries are being open to trade."

Saadia Zahidi noted the lack of hard data on the impact of U.S. tariffs imposed on several of its main economic partners, and warned that the sentiment surrounding investing in the U.S. has been going down, AFP reported.

The U.S. also scored relatively low in some categories including trade tariffs, life expectancy and digital skills.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region came in the third, but the WEF noted the assessment was based on data before months of protests began shaking the financial hub.

The WEF measured the strength of 103 key indicators in this year's report, such as inflation, trade and digital skills, aiming to assess the productivity and long-term growth of 141 economies.

The Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), which was launched in 1979, gauges the competitiveness of 141 economies.