Mr Wong even noted that some people had earlier questioned his examination that the changing world will handicap little open economies like Singapore.
This latest walk by the US leaves” no room for doubt”. He said it marked a” geological shift” in the international order, one where rules-based globalisation and free deal is over, to move into one that is “more random, protectionist, and dangerous”.
For years, the US had , championed free commerce and led efforts to build a multilateral trading system, anchored by obvious rules and norms. It was one where nations could reach win-win benefits through industry, he added.
This “WTO ( World Trade Organization ) program” brought unprecedented stability and prosperity to the world – and to the US itself.
” To be clear, the program is not ideal. Singapore, and many others, have huge called for reform – to update the guidelines and to make the system much”, he said.
” But what the US is doing now is not transformation. It is abandoning the whole structure it had created. Its innovative approach of mutual tariffs, nation by country, is a total refusal of the WTO framework”.
Singapore is in the lowest base level – with a tax of 10 per cent , – so the immediate effects may be limited for the time being. But he said there are wider and more serious repercussions if other nations follow suit, as that will spell problems, especially for smaller states like Singapore.
” We risk being squeezed out, marginalised and kept behind”, he said, adding that the last time the world experienced anything like this was in the 1930s.  ,
That was when trade war escalated into military conflict and finally, WWII.  ,
IMPACT ON SINGAPORE
His comments came on the back of US President Donald Trump on Wednesday opening a boat of punishing taxes targeting countries around the world, in a move that risks sparking a destructive trade war.
Some of the heaviest blows were reserved for what Trump called the “nations that treat us badly”, including 34 per share on goods from China, 20 per cent on vital ally the European Union, 24 per cent on Japan and 26 per cent on India.
The 34 per cent tax on Chinese goods is on top of the 20 per cent Trump recently imposed, bringing the total fresh charge to 54 per share.