Gan Kim Yong, Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, during a panel session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, January 21, 2025.
Stefan Wermuth Bloomberg Getty images
According to Deputy Prime Minister Singapore, Gan Kim Yong, Asia will remain a “signal of development opportunities” despite the escalation of global trade tensions.
“Even if some of us in Asia cannot be directly affected, the impact of growing tariffs and commercial wars may cause serious disturbances of supply chains, slow down commercial and investment flows and significantly reduce the development of the global economy,” said Gan on Wednesday in Singapore in Singapore.
He added: “Many of us in Asia watched President Donald Trump's tariff to the three largest US trading partners and his plans for more, including mutual tariffs related to the duties of exports in the USA.”
Gana's speech appears after the USA Increased tariffs and then an inverted course on Canadian steel and aluminum exports on Wednesday, after Reversing mutual energy tariffs Ontario Today in the USA.
The deputy prime minister said that there is a “good reason” to remain optimistic to Asia, indicating that Asia's economy is to expand from about 50% of global GDP to about 60% to 2030.
He noted that South -East Asia, in which Singapore is located, will also become the fourth largest economy in the world until 2030.
Free trade in Asia
Asia should therefore be set as “open, integrated and innovative trade area”.
In Southeast Asia, Gan noticed that the region has
Talking to CNBC last monthGan said that although a direct impact from American tariffs on Singapore will probably be “limited” because the country will be a commercial deficit from the USA, consequences cannot be underestimated in the long run.
In 2024, the United States had a commercial surplus with a Singapore of $ 2.8 billion.
He said that supply chains and trade patterns would change because companies would assess the locations of their production base, causing “greater friction and higher costs” in the global economy that can slow down.
The Singapore economy ended last year with a positive note, and the gross domestic product increased by 4.4% in 2024, its fastest increase from 2021, agitated by wholesale trade, finance, insurance and production.
The sharp reflection last year may break down this year, taking into account that this is one of the most exposed to trade in economies in the region, and transactions are three times GDP, which makes it prone to the increase in protectionism.
This is a developing story. Refresh updates.