Uncertainty from Trump 2.0 seen to taper off

Cushman & Wakefield, a leading global commercial real estate services firm for property owners and occupiers, is optimistic that the current global uncertainty caused by US President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs will ease once tariff negotiations are completed in the next couple of months.

- MARIANNE GO

In a virtual briefing by Cushman & Wakefield on its 2025 outlook for key markets in the Southeast Asia region, namely Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, Dr. Dominic Brown, head of international research, acknowledged that the immediate actions taken by President Trump in his second term are causing uncertainty that will likely last for the whole of this year, but will begin to taper off once tariff negotiations are completed and agreements are reached by early next year.

But even as I write this column, The New York Times has just reported that the New York-based Court of International Trade has stopped Trump's reciprocal tariff scheme that has caused global economic uncertainty. It is expected, however, that the Trump administration will bring the tariff issue, which seems to have been arbitrarily drawn up, to the Supreme Court.

According to Dr. Brown, "Clearly, there's been a lot going on in the US. President Trump has been exceedingly active since he started on Jan. 28. Most of it has been through executive orders. And while this will have a range of implications locally for the US, from an Asia Pacific perspective, we kind of need to look at it through two particular lenses.