SINGAPORE – Singapore will continue to engage the US on lowering tariffs and help businesses and workers adapt, but will consider any steps carefully in response to the negotiations, said Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong.

About a third of Singapore’s domestic exports to the US – worth about $9.5 billion annually – became subject to a 12.5 per cent levy on July 24, along with dozens of other economies coming under 10 or 12.5 per cent duties amid US allegations of forced labour.

DPM Gan said there is no evidence that Singapore is involved in the trade of goods associated with forced labour, but the higher rate was imposed because it lacks a law prohibiting the importation of goods produced with forced labour.

Singapore has also not negotiated an Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) with the US, which could have included such prohibitions along with other trade restrictions.

As a major trading hub with around $2.5 trillion in goods and services trade each year, including $1.4 trillion in goods, any import prohibition would have significant implications for Singapore’s trade, Gan said.

“Businesses could face substantial compliance costs arising from supply-chain due diligence, documentation, and investigations, particularly where production takes place outside Singapore and beyond our jurisdiction,” he said in reply to an SQ on Sept 8.

“Such measures could also affect our broader trade relationship with other partners,” added Gan, who is also the Minister of Trade and Industry (Trade).

He cited a July 24 statement from the Singapore Business Federation, which also noted that any new regulatory requirements should be carefully studied in consultation with industry.

Gan said the Government will continue discussi...