SINGAPORE, Aug 18 (AFP): Singapore's non-oil domestic exports slipped 4.6 per cent in July from a year earlier, government data showed Monday, as shipments to the United States plunged by more than 40 per cent.
Southeast Asia's second-largest economy is heavily reliant on international trade and is vulnerable to any global slowdown induced by the tariffs-even if Singapore only faces a baseline 10 per cent levy from US President Donald Trump.
On August 6, Trump announced a 100 per cent tariff on chips from firms that do not invest in the United States, and threatened levies of up to 250 per cent on pharmaceutical imports.
The 42.7 per cent July contraction in main exports to the US-Singapore's biggest market-was largely caused by a 93.5 per cent decline in pharmaceutical shipments, the government body Enterprise Singapore said on Monday.
Meanwhile, exports of specialised machinery dropped 45.8 per cent and food preparations were down 48.8 per cent.
Non-oil domestic shipments to China and Indonesia also declined in July, but grew to the EU, Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong.
The city-state last Tuesday raised its 2025 economic growth forecast, but warned the outlook for the rest of the year remains clouded by global uncertainty, in part due to US tariffs.
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Sunday said that he took "little comfort" from the 10 per cent baseline tariff rate the US imposed on Singapore.
"Because no one knows if, or when, the US might raise the baseline, or set higher tariffs on specific industries like pharmaceuticals and semiconductors," he said in a National Day speech.
