Singapore’s crucial pivot to diverse trade networks

SINGAPORE – Call it “G minus one”, as termed by Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. Or “the world, temporarily minus one”, as Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong put it. These characterisations of a framework for the global economy, minus America, emerged in 2025 after the re-election of US President Donald Trump and an escalation of his tariff policy. Far from a drive to exclude the US, governments and experts are trying to find a way forward if America continues to abdicate its leadership role in the global trading system, analysts say. The efforts have unfolded in several ways. Multilateral agreements,…