, Columnist
Trade Isn’t Supposed to Be Emotional. It Is Now
Trump’s tariffs are as much about drama as economics.
Is this trade war just performance art?
Photographer: Cheng Xin/Getty Images
Singapore figured it had done a lot right in handling commercial ties with the US. Leaders emphasized America’s surplus and put huge store in the nations’ two-decade-old free trade accord. When President Donald Trump hit the city-state with a 10% levy, it was small comfort that the penalty was so much lower than that imposed on neighbors. How can longtime partners put a traditionally strong relationship back on track?
So when former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was asked a similar question at a Nomura conference in Singapore this month, the hotel ballroom was all ears.