Effective July 24, Washington imposed new tariffs tied to countries’ policies on imports made with forced labour, placing Singapore in the higher tier at 12.5 per cent rather than the 10 per cent rate.
Seventeen of the 60 economies investigated received the lower rate, which applied to economies that had banned such imports outright, imposed narrower controls on specified goods, or committed through an Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) to introduce and enforce a ban.
Countries at 10 per cent include Malaysia, Indonesia, India and Cambodia.
Singapore has adopted none of those measures. The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) argues that national bans, on their own, would not stop the production of goods made with forced labour and might simply divert them to other markets or ports.
In a climate of global economic volatility and intensifying US-China competition, it may be tempting to suggest that Singapore should rethink its approach. But the bargain could prove costlier than it first appears.
To understand this, it’s worth looking farther afield at Jordan’s deal with Washington and what it reveals about the broader commitments behind the Arab country’s lower tariff.
For further reading, please visit The Straits Times here, where this article was first published on 3 August 2026.