Vital for nations to work together amid tariff uncertainty: DPM Gan

New tariffs system presents not just challenges but also opportunities, he says

- Joyce ZK Lim

GUANGZHOU/SHENZHEN - The emerging framework of trade tariffs presents not just challenges but also opportunities, making it important for countries to work together to seize these opportunities, said Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong in Guangzhou on Sept 1.

The global economy will undergo significant restructuring and shifts, supply chains will be reorganised, and all countries will be impacted by the new system of tariffs in the near term, DPM Gan said at a meeting with Guangdong Governor Wang Weizhong.

"But (when) we take a longer-term view, I think there will always be opportunities for us, and it is important for us to work together to seize these opportunities," he added.

DPM Gan was referring to the series of tariffs unleashed by US President Donald Trump after he returned to office at the turn of the year, which have accelerated an upending of global free trade norms.

The Deputy Prime Minister, who is also the Republic's Minister for Trade and Industry, is on a five-day working visit to China, which began in the southern trade and manufacturing hub of Guangdong. The trip will culminate in Beijing, where he will attend a parade on Sept 3 marking the end of World War II.

On Sept 1, Mr Wang met and hosted DPM Gan to lunch. They reaffirmed the strong economic collaboration and longstanding people-to-people ties between Singapore and Guangdong, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a statement.

They also agreed that the China-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City (CSGKC), a bilateral project in its 15th year, would continue to be a useful test bed for the development of new technologies and support knowledge sharing between both regions, MFA added.

Guangdong is China's largest provincial economy, and a powerhouse of high-tech industries such as robotics, electric vehicles and information technology. It has been the Republic's top provincial trading partner in China for the last 36 years.