SINGAPORE: Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports slipped 4.6 percent in July from a year earlier, government data showed Monday, as shipments to the United States plunged by more than 40 percent.
Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy is heavily reliant on international trade and is vulnerable to any global slowdown induced by the tariffs – even if Singapore only faces a baseline 10 percent levy from US President Donald Trump.
On August 6, Trump announced a 100 percent tariff on chips from firms that do not invest in the United States, and threatened levies of up to 250 percent on pharmaceutical imports.
Singapore economy grew 1.1% in 2023, data shows
The 42.7 percent July contraction in main exports to the US – Singapore’s biggest market – was largely caused by a 93.5 percent decline in pharmaceutical shipments, the government body Enterprise Singapore said on Monday.
Meanwhile, exports of specialised machinery dropped 45.8 percent and food preparations were down 48.8 percent.
Non-oil domestic shipments to China and Indonesia also declined in July, but grew to the EU, Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong.
The city-state last Tuesday raised its 2025 economic growth forecast, but warned the outlook for the rest of the year remains clouded by global uncertainty, in part due to US tariffs.
The trade ministry lifted its gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast to 1.5-2.5 percent from an earlier range of 0-2.0 percent.
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Sunday said that he took “little comfort” from the 10 percent baseline tariff rate the US imposed on Singapore.
“Because no one knows if, or when, the US might raise the baseline, or set higher tariffs on specific industries like pharmaceuticals and semiconductors,” he said in a National Day speech.
“What we do know is that there will be more trade barriers in the world. That means small and open economies like us will feel the squeeze,” Wong added.
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