Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong chaired the first meeting of the Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce (SERT) on April 16.
The meeting comes after Prime Minister Lawrence Wong told Parliament on April 8 that the government will establish a new taskforce to help businesses and workers navigate the uncertainties arising from tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump.
The taskforce members are:
- Desmond Lee, Minister for National Development and Minister-in-charge of Social Services Integration
- Josephine Teo, Minister for Digital Development and Information and Second Minister for Home Affairs
- Tan See Leng, Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry
- Chee Hong Tat, Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Finance
- Lim Ming Yan, Chairman of the Singapore Business Federation
- Ng Chee Meng, Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC)
- Tan Hee Teck, President of the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF)
The taskforce will leverage the resources of the tripartite partners to deliver on three key workstreams.
The first workstream of “sensemaking and communication” is co-led by Teo and Lim. This workstream will be responsible for regular three-way communication between government, businesses and workers on the latest developments. The workstream will also keep the public and businesses informed of the Taskforce’s work.
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The second workstream on “addressing immediate challenges” is co-led by Ng, SNEF’s Tan and Minister Tan. It will build on the work of the first workstream to identify pain points and immediate challenges faced by businesses and workers, and review and enhance support measures as needed.
The third workstream on “longer-term strategies and responses” is co-led by Lee and Chee, supported by partners across the taskforce and other government agencies.
This workstream will develop strategies to transform businesses and workers to seize opportunities and strengthen resilience in the new economic landscape.
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This includes longer-term efforts to promote partnerships with like-minded countries and organisations; strengthen and build resilience in our status as a global hub in air, sea, trade and finance; work with businesses to enter and grow in new markets and diversify their supply chains; ensure our continued attractiveness to local and international investors, founders and talent; and accelerate the transformation of our enterprises and workforce to overcome land and labour constraints through productivity and innovation.
The taskforce will begin engaging businesses and workers over the next few weeks, and provide regular updates on its progress.
In response to The Edge Singapore, Minister Tan says the taskforce will prioritise engagement with sectors that are involved in “outward-facing exports”, such as manufacturing — “particularly for exports to the US” — the finance and insurance sector, wholesale trade, transport and logistics.
“We are paying close attention to the sectors [that] are going to be most-immediately affected by the ongoing developments, while at the same time anticipating some other ‘spillaway effects’ on the rest of the economy,” says Tan in prepared remarks.
For workers, Tan anticipates that business uncertainty will cause employers to “hold back” their expansion or investment plans, and consequently, they will reduce hiring. “This could affect our fresh graduates, in particular, who may face greater difficulties in securing their first job. Mature workers are also vulnerable, should companies decide to downsize their operations amidst the uncertainties.”
Tan says his workstream will pay “special attention” to the needs of these groups of workers.
Mark Lee, vice chairman of the Singapore Business Federation, says the new tariffs have introduced “significant uncertainty” for businesses with many adopting a “wait and see” approach. Lee was standing in for chairman Lim, who was overseas.
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He added that many businesses have since postponed their investments and expansion plans and are waiting for more clarity on the scope of the tariffs, enforcement and exemptions.
“Even those that are not directly exporting to the US, they are also watching global developments very, very closely before committing resources,” says Lee.
“I think overall, the businesses are concerned that global economic demand will slow, and for Singapore based firms that are embedded in the US and China's supply chains, I think [the deputy prime minister] has alluded to the fact that there's 125% to 145% tariff plans,” he adds. “Now these are prohibitive, and some customers are already canceling contracts, returning shipments to the manufacturers, opting to actually absorb penalties rather than proceed with tariff shipments. And this has resulted in a real disruption to regional disruption and the viability of exports.”
Based on a quick dipstick poll with the union leaders, Ng reveals that 70% of the union leaders in Singapore are concerned over the uncertainty in global trade. Around 60% think the tariffs will impact Singapore and their sector badly while 30% worry about reduced exports to the US. About 50% of those polled say they worry about higher production costs.
“While 70% have yet to hear from their companies about how they might respond, 11% have heard about possible retrenchments already,” says Ng. “Others have heard about firms starting to freeze hiring, freeze wages or reduce overtime hours due to reduced workload.”
Gan, in prepared remarks, says this is “the most serious challenge to the global rules-based economic order. We must be prepared for a more protectionist, unstable and fragmented era ahead. But by working together with our unions and businesses, the government will help our companies and workers navigate the choppy waters in front of us.”
Gan adds: “If we stay together, we can overcome the challenges that lie ahead, and find new opportunities to thrive in the new economic landscape.”
Taskforce comes ‘not a minute too soon’: Teo
In response to the mixed reactions from the public including talk of fearmongering by the government, Teo noted that the taskforce was “very timely” and it came “not a minute too soon”.
Referring to Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s dialogue with NTUC and union leaders on April 14, the industry shouldn’t be “overly excited” but people shouldn’t take the current situation too lightly either.
“The relatively benign environment which allowed Singapore to pursue its economic strategies and to bring benefits to our citizens, that environment is very likely gone for now,” says Teo.
She adds it is “not very wise” to disregard consequences and act as if nothing has changed when the environment has changed dramatically. It is also “not in keeping with the government’s approach” that is consistently carried out over the years.
“We’ve always been outward looking. We’ve always recognised that we’re a price taker and a small country. We’ve always accepted that being plugged into the global economy benefits our people,” Teo continues. “And if we’re no longer able to do so as we were able to do in the past… not starting to plan for the future, not starting to revisit strategies that helped economies and people to do well, that’s going to be very short sighted.”
“In some ways, quickly setting up this taskforce and having a workstream that looks specifically at immediate measures is to buy us some time in order to get a better lay of the land,” says Teo.
While the government has not determined the level of support it aims to provide to the industry, the taskforce stressed that it will provide the “necessary help and support” to companies, workers and families “during this difficult period”, says Chee, adding that it was fortunate that the government had the resources to do so.
At this point, the taskforce will look at the schemes that are already in place to help companies.
“I think we have to look at the schemes as a continuous effort for us to help our companies. And it's not just to throw money at the problem. It's to help them through the funding to become more competitive, for the workers to become better skilled, so that in the new global environment, regardless of how the supply chains are going to shift, our companies and our workers will be better equipped and more ready to seize those new opportunities,” Chee adds. “I think that is a more sustainable way of helping our companies and our workers.”
That said, the government will continue to provide immediate assistance for employees who have been affected by the tariffs and some of the schemes that were already announced during Budget 2025 will “go some way” in helping them, Chee continues.
Teo also notes that the taskforce will have to figure out the pain points before attempting to solve any issues.
‘Significant challenge’ to global economic framework
In closing remarks, Gan warns of a “significant challenge” to the overall global economic framework, “particularly the threat to the rules-based trading order”.
“If countries are able to raise tariffs and reduce tariffs to each other… this will threaten the underlying rules-based order that we have been relying on to grow our economy, to develop our economy,” he adds. “This is something that we are particularly concerned about, because once you do not have rules on trading, it's very difficult for small countries and small economies like Singapore to continue to grow and develop and prosper. Trade, after all, is three times our GDP.”
Gan acknowledges that some have asked if the tariffs will be removed when a new US administration comes into power. However, the reality is “not so simple”, he adds.
“Some of the tariffs are imposed in order to allow industries to onshore into America. You can imagine, if I made a significant investment in the US because of the tariff protection, you cannot remove the tariff overnight, because that will affect my investment [and] affect my calculations,” says Gan.
“Tariffs are easy to put up [but] very difficult to remove”, says Gan.
In its release, the taskforce indicated that it will begin engaging businesses and workers over the next few weeks, and provide regular updates on the progress of its work.
