According to Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore will actively engage with the United States Trade Representative’s office to seek clarity on trade data and the recently announced Section 301 investigations. U.S. President Donald Trump has recently launched two trade investigations into excess industrial capacity in major trading countries, including Singapore, India, and China, to rebuild the tariff pressure after the Supreme Court curtailed most of his tariff program.
Singapore had a goods trade deficit of US$1.7 billion and a services trade deficit of US$25.1 billion with the US in 2024, according to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis data. Moreover, the country had a total trade deficit of $27 billion with the US. The country’s industrial occupancy rates are also considered ‘very healthy’, challenging the United States Trade Representative’s notice, which claimed that Singapore has continued to expand manufacturing capacity despite the drop in the rates.
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U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced on Wednesday that his office will begin a Section 301 probe into 16 major countries, with unfair trade practices potentially leading to new tariffs on China, South Korea, the European Union, Japan, and Mexico by this summer. Countries such as Switzerland, Norway, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Bangladesh will also be investigated under this excess capacity probe.
