Singapore’s defence minister said the US under the Trump administration has become unpredictable on issues such as trade but added that the city-state should fare well given its strong security ties and positive trade balance with the world’s biggest economy.
“Now the US is seen as a great disruptor,” defence minister Ng Eng Hen said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Friday (Feb 14) on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. “There is certainly a level of unpredictability there that hasn’t been seen before — one hopes that doesn’t lead to instability.”
Trade and security “are two faces of the same coin,” Ng said. Even with that outlook, Singapore is in “a better position,” he said, adding that “we buy more from the US than we sell.”
Though not formal allies, Singapore and the US enjoy strong business and security links that include access to the city-state’s naval and air base facilities. Their bilateral trade of goods and services was worth about $132 billion last year.
Ng’s remarks came after the Trump administration blindsided historic NATO allies in Europe with plans to directly negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the future of the war in Ukraine. In its first month, the new administration has made clear that it is willing to quickly alter defence priorities or economic policies that have been in place for decades.
F-35 purchase
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That shift has drawn attention across Asia.
Singapore, like much of Southeast Asia, has sought a middle path in an increasingly complicated geopolitical picture, seeking to balance ties with the US as a major security partner and source of investment, and one of its biggest economic partners in China.
The partnership with the US extends to Singapore announcing last year that it would acquire eight Lockheed Martin Corp. F-35A fighter jets to be delivered around 2030, adding another tranche of modern aircraft to its fleet.
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The US-China rivalry remains the main geopolitical focus in Asia, Ng said. But he said he believes that when it comes to the region’s biggest hotspot that, “neither the US nor China want to go to war over Taiwan.”
“The US recognises that Taiwan is a deep red line for China,” he said, adding that tensions over the island are lower than “one or two years ago.”
The Singapore defence chief earlier had what he called a good meeting with his US counterpart, new Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth. And with Singapore’s budget expected to be presented next week, Ng said that the country will likely continue on a trajectory of spending about 3% of GDP on defence.
