Serious Chicken Shit PAP fear Sino-American Trade War would starve SG52 dead

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Healthy for US and China to agree to avoid trade wars: Ng Eng Hen

Posted 06 Apr 2017 13:20

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SINGAPORE: From Singapore's perspective, it would be healthy for the United States and China to agree to avoid trade wars and to find agreements to help both sides grow economically, said Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen on Thursday (Apr 6).

Asked what does Singapore hope to see from the meeting between the two countries' leaders this week, Dr Ng, who is on a working visit to Washington, DC, said: "From Singapore’s perspective, we benefit whenever global trade goes up.

"And, simplistically, if there are protectionist measures from any one country, retaliation, the effect is, as we’ve known from past experience is that global trade just goes down."

He added that US and China cooperating is always better than both countries in an antagonistic relationship, and the fact that President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping are meeting is a "good development".

A SENSE THE US "HASN'T REAPED WHAT IT SOWED"

Dr Ng also noted some of the main messages he received during the trip, including President Trump's campaign slogan of making America great again, and how this was a "legitimate aspiration".

He said China and President Xi had a similar aspiration when he became the country's leader, and so too did India prime minister Narendra Modi, Japan's Shinzo Abe and Indonesia's Joko Widodo.

For the US, though, the difference is that it is the world's largest economy and the leader of globalisation, so there is a "slight disjoint" when America says it wants to be great again, the minister said.

"One can understand that after we spoke to people across whatever political affiliations, was a sense that in the last two decades, the United States hadn’t reaped what it sowed and that they were not the largest beneficiaries.

"They talked about stagnation, even the drop in middle incomes. They talked about rising death rates for US whites, non-college educated. They talked about the sense of loss of standards, internationally, foreign affairs, specific episodes that America’s position in the word had diminished. So I think President Trump tapped into this vein of discontent."

Dr Ng said there were many who assured him and his team that the US still believes very much in free trade, despite President Trump's campaign slogan, and free trade was not at risk.

"So there is a clear realisation that we are still in a globalised world and that free trade has benefited US, but the US wants to structure agreements so that the sense that America has lost out could be redressed," the minister said.

TRADE "SLIGHTLY MORE OF A CONCERN"

Dr Ng also noted that is slightly more of a concern" about trade, as there was uncertainty over who could be in charge - Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Mr Peter Navarro, appointed to lead the new National Trade Council, or Mr Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council.

"We talked about these possibilities with the people we met, on revised trade deals, and I think there is a little bit of a question mark there especially given US trade and domestic agenda. I think it would be challenging, but we would have to navigate that terrain given the uncertainty."

He added that time will reveal who will negotiate regional trade agreements or multilateral trade agreements.

- CNA/kk


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