Post-Trump tariffs won't revert to status quo: SM Lee

The city-state is now being subjected to a 10% tariff by the US.

Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Trump’s tariffs are temporary during a dialogue at the 69th Economic Society of Singapore Annual Dinner last 15 July 2025.

“It will not remain like this, but it will not go back to the status quo ante,” Lee said.

Lee said that once tariffs create new, dependent industries, it becomes politically impossible to remove those tariffs and revert to the old system.

Singapore, which previously enjoyed zero tariffs on imports from the United States due to the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, is now being subjected to a 10% tariff by the US.

The senior minister said this new 10% rate is presented as a "best rate tariff" that the US is applying to many trading partners, effectively treating Singapore "like everybody else" rather than giving it preferential treatment.