Singaporean PM says 'free trade is over' after Trump administration's tariffs

The U.S. implementation of tariffs on trading partners around the world marks "a seismic change in the global order" and poses serious threats to small and open economies like Singapore, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said on Friday. 

"The era of rules-based globalization and free trade is over," Wong said in a video message posted on his social media channel. "We are entering a new phase – one that is more arbitrary, protectionist and dangerous."

On Wednesday, the United States introduced a 10-percent "minimum baseline tariff" on all imports, including those from Singapore, with higher rates applied to certain trading partners. A global trade war touched off by U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs sent world markets into a downward spiral and saw little signs of abating.

Wong said the United States is "abandoning the entire system it had created," and warned that the new approach of applying reciprocal tariffs on a country-by-country basis represents "a complete rejection of the WTO (World Trade Organization) framework."

While the 10-percent tariff on Singapore may have a limited direct impact for now, Wong cautioned that the broader consequences could be far-reaching.

The Trump administration has said the tariffs will help address chronic budget deficits and return manufacturing to the U.S., yet experts warned that it might have negative impacts. 

"They're going to create some jobs, but it's not going to be a huge number," said Stephen Orlins, president of the National Committee of U.S.-China Relations, in an interview with CMG, citing the expanding role of automation. 

"I went to a factory the size of a football field and there were probably 10 workers in the whole factory, and the robots would be at the end of the production line," he said. "There were no people in this. It was all automated."

Orlins expressed hope that the U.S. government would open for talks on negotiating down the tariffs.

(Cover: A fully loaded container vessel leaves the Pasir Panjang terminal port in Singapore on April 4, 2025. /VCG)