Trump's 'Liberation Day' Turns Trade Into a Weapon

There is more uncertainty for node economies like Singapore, but the situation is not hopeless.

- Lin Suling

"An age of impunity": Former UK foreign secretary David Miliband coined the term in 2020 to spotlight the naked exercise of power through armed conflict. Yet the tool of choice of the sole superpower today isn't an aerial strike or an armored assault. It's the weaponization of trade as a primary instrument of statecraft.

On April 2—which he has dubbed Liberation Day—US President Donald Trump vows to impose sweeping tariffs on trading partners, underscoring a new reality: Economic interdependence, once a force for prosperity, is now a vulnerability ready to be exploited.

The move will have ripple effects—with economists predicting inflation, supply chain disruptions and slower global growth from the fallout. Businesses could put investment and hiring plans on hold.

Even if Singapore avoids Mr. Trump's naughty list as predicted, its position as a global business hub hosting foreign corporations of all stripes will draw scrutiny, especially with many prominent Chinese firms operating regional headquarters and subsidiaries here.

Our global shipping node, situated at the narrowest point of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, could face sharper scrutiny from a US administration tightening its watch of the Panama Canal, Greenland and other strategic trade chokepoints.

THE TARIFF BAZOOKA

Mr. Trump's focus on tariffs makes it a bellwether for how the US might apply other forms of economic coercion. That is not good news.

Take, for example, how there is no certainty over immunity or how long any reprieve might last. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent initially reassured that only the "Dirty 15"—the top 15 percent of countries with high tariffs and substantial trade imbalances with the US—would be targeted.

That changed when Mr. Trump casually remarked on March 30 that tariffs would apply to "all countries".