Commentary: As Trump’s tariffs roil markets, can Singapore seize the moment?

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In: South-East Asia

SMALL-CAP STRENGTH

The three big businesses in Singapore- DBS, OCBC, and UOB- dominate the market, accounting for about 25 per share of daily trading volume. Their powerful functionality has led to a substantial boost in their combined weight in the Straits Times Index (STI), from 40 per cent in 2019 to 54 per share now.

But, over 80 per share of the listed businesses on the SGX have a market capitalisation of under US$ 1 billion, positioning the trade as a small-cap business. This section, especially small and mid-cap companies, remains undervalued despite being well-run, prosperous, and offering attractive income. Revitalising this industry sector may provide much-needed cash and power to the SGX.

Rather than forcing fund managers to invest in individual stocks, a more effective strategy could be to create indices and exchange-traded funds ( ETFs ) based on small and mid-cap companies- perhaps an SGX50, SGX100, and SGX200.

These funds would make it easier for institutional investors, including home offices, to get exposure to smaller- and mid-caps, therefore enhancing cash. Such a move could drastically affect the buying dynamics of the local marketplace by bringing administrative wealth into formerly neglected parts.

While the EMRG’s S$ 5 billion action appears to be a step in the right direction, some business watchers argue that more could be done to support the SGX. For example, it is worth considering if government-backed funds like the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation ( GIC ) should invest in SGX-listed stocks.

If the SGX succeeds in attracting local companies to record here, it makes little sense if the GIC does not participate in them, especially when it does so on other markets like Hong Kong. Such an technique may further enhance the attractiveness of the SGX as a list destination.

The issue of blacklisting, which has been a growing problem with around 20 firms delisting last year and five so far this year, may also be alleviated if the S$ 5 billion program introduces enough liquidity into the business. In addition, the tax incentives already announced will serve as an attractive catalyst for companies to consider the Singapore market for their IPOs.

However, there is room for further improvement. One potential area is investor education. Retail investors, particularly the younger demographic, tend to gravitate towards overseas markets and more volatile assets like cryptocurrencies. Given that the current SGX retail base is largely aged 55 and above, efforts to engage younger investors could help diversify the investor base and encourage more participation in the local market.

Analyst coverage of mid- and small-cap stocks could also be enhanced. Analysts should be encouraged to identify and promote undervalued stocks with growth potential, rather than focusing primarily on large-cap companies. Brokers, too, should be more willing to engage with clients and promote growth and value stocks, aligning with investors ‘ risk appetites.

Lastly, attracting large, well-known companies to list on the SGX, such as PSA, Changi Airport, and NTUC, could serve as a powerful signal of the exchange’s competitiveness. Waiving or reducing some transaction fees and taxes could further reduce costs and make the SGX one of the most attractive trading platforms in Asia.

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Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs will hurt literally everyone – Asia Times

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In: Asia

It resembled a reality TV suspense. Some folks had never even heard of taxes up until recently. There has been a lot of life foreign policy of so-called” Liberation Day,” as US President Donald Trump laid out taxes that will be imposed on nations all over the world.

Trump just announced that a new “baseline” 10 % tax would apply to goods into the United States from all nations just hours ago. US Customs and Border Protection will charge an additional tax on items that cross the border.

The higher mutual tariffs on personal nations are anticipated to start on April 5 and the lower ones on April 9 respectively. That eliminates the opportunity for companies to update their supply stores.

What might the upcoming “episode” have in store for the rest of the world? We can anticipate that some nations will retaliate, imposing tariffs and other customary tariffs. That has its dangers.

Taxes on the entire world

No nation, including many of the US’s standard friends, has been spared from the current benchmark taxes.

Vietnam will be one of the hardest hit countries, coming in at 46 % price. The most recent statement will also have an impact on China, South Korea, and Japan, which are all tariff-exempt. 20 % is applicable to the European Union.

Numerous nations already vowed to react.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, stated in a recent statement that” all tools are on the board.” She added that the EU members ‘” safe harbor” is the single market.

Apparently, Canada was spared from the original 10 % price. However, it still has to deal with the recently announced 25 % taxes on the electrical and other industries.

Nothing in terms of reprisal has been said by Canada’s new prime minister, Mark Carney, as “nothing is off the board.”

significant levies in Asia

China’s 34 % tax is a more deterioration to already tense relations between the world’s two largest economy.

Vietnam has been attempting to avoid tax risks because it relies a lot on the US market. Jailed Taiwanese citizens from the US have also been made in unprecedented numbers as a result.

Up until this point, Vietnam had benefited from conflicts between the US and China. These new, enormous tariffs will have significant ripple effects not only on Vietnam, but also on less economically developed countries like Myanmar and Cambodia ( 49 % tariff ) and Myanmar ( 44 % tariff ).

Vietnam has a 46 % tax on it. Luong Thai Linh / EPA via The Talk

Is it worthwhile to fight again?

Resilient nations might not have the means to fight back. Given the resource gap, it is difficult to think what influence Cambodia or Myanmar might have on the US.

Different nations believe it is unworthy of the battle. Australia, for instance, is right to wonder if a tit-for-tat approach is successful or will only increase the issue.

Russia is one of the nations that has flocked under the sensor. Russian industry is limited and subject to sanctions. However, according to US press reports, Trump wants to bolster the buying relationship in the future.

The US Postal Service had a dream.

What business experts refer to as the “de minimis” law as one of the interesting side effects of Trump’s disclosures is that typically, if you make a small order online, you don’t have to spend transfer taxes when the product arrives in your state.

Trump fixed this flaw in February. Even if the price is below the “de minimis” quantity of US$ 800, US tariffs still apply to all.

This won’t really be a problem for offline retailers. Every minute, roughly 100 000 little parcels travel to the US. Taxes will now be calculated for each item and coordinated with US Customs and Border Protection.

The new taxes will also apply to small imported deals that were previously exempt.  Photo: Nati Harnik / AP via The Talk

Retaliation and strikes

We may anticipate a rise in consumer reaction both locally and globally. One example of the “elbows up” activity in Canada is.

Consumers are now making a decision to turn their attention away from US products, criticizing the Trump administration’s policies on business, variety, equality, environmental protection, sex rights, and other issues.

Buyers should be cautious about jumping on the bandwagon without doing their homework, though. The local franchise owner will also be affected by boycotting a US fast food restaurant, which may make you feel better ( and admittedly may be better for your health ).

Killing Americans in large numbers is also not effective because many Americans are seriously upset about what is happening.

claiming success while paying more to customers

One of Trump’s mantras that was made famous in the most recent film, The Apprentice, is the imminent state of success.

After Trump’s earlier price announcements this year, the US trade deficit increased as importers scrambled to hoard supplies ahead of price increases. Because the taxes go into effect in only three days, this can happen this time.

If exports return to normal, the regular business gap will decrease, giving Trump a chance to assert that the policies are effective, even if it is just a rebound effect.

However, these taxes did harm rather than assist regular Americans. A$ 20 t-shirt could soon go up to almost$ 30, devoid of US sales taxes, as a result of everyday purchases like clothing ( made in places like Vietnam, Cambodia, and China ).

The world may be prepared for more episodes, more cliffhangers, and more doubt as this business drama in the style of reality TV continues to develop.

Professor of Law at UNSW Sydney is Lisa Toohey.

This content was republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the text of the content.

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Commentary: Batam struggles to up the ante as Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone rises

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BATAM’S Fall

Only in 1990 did the island start to take off as part of the Singapore-Johor-Riau ( SIJORI ) campaign along with its sister island Bintan. By utilizing its territories ‘ comparative advantages and good connection, this tripartite initiative courted foreign investment. &nbsp,

Beyond worldwide campaign, the reform of limiting laws, especially those relating to equity thresholds and the ownership of business estates by secret sector operators, was the catalyst for investment in Batam. A number of electrical and electronics companies with offices in Singapore were established in the form of sponsors based in Singapore.

As politicians struggled to contain the effects of the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the SIJORI battle lost steam. However, the majority of the manufacturing activities that occurred in the 1990s continued to exist in the different SIJORI regions, demonstrating the financial potential of these cross-border systems.

Batam and Bintan’s economic fortunes were boosted even more in 2002 when the US-Singapore free trade agreement’s Integrated Sourcing Initiative made it possible for items purchased from the territories to be included in Singapore’s customs place for sale to the US. In 2009, all of Batam and a portion of Bintan became free trade zones (FTZ), allowing duty-free industry and goods.

In the following 20 years, Batam concentrated on its market as an export-focused gateway of production, much like Johor in the north. But, as major business relations crises hit the island, its appeal began to wane.

Many of the region’s electrical and electronics manufacturers emigrated as a result. Increased expense in the shipping and repair sectors was able to mitigate the impact. According to Batam’s FTZ standing, this wave, in turn, subsided according to overcapacity and selling heheuristics on the local market.

Batam’s economy is recovering after COVID-19 caused a decline in commerce. The island’s economy experienced a 2.5 % growth in 2020, but it returned to 4.8 % in 2021 and oscillated between 6.5 % and 7 % between 2022 and 2024. Thermal board, power generation, and silicon producers have all made investments in Batam. Apple’s commitment to spend US$ 1 billion to create AirTags on the island is its most notable accomplishment.

Its market has been further diversified by budding service industries like film and animation as well as data centers. SEZs that focus on the online market, health, and aerospace maintenance, repair, and procedure sectors should ideally help these green shoots and another target sectors. The Johor-Singapore SEZ also has a reputation for some of these businesses.

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By being like Silicon Valley used to be, East Asia challenges it – Asia Times

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In: Asia, Technology

Silicon Valley has for centuries been a widely recognized technology image. Governments around the world have tried to develop their own variations by investing strongly in tech hubs in recognition of its popularity.

These initiatives, including Silicon Beach in Los Angeles, Silicon Island in Malaysia, and Silicon Roundabout in the UK, have not always succeeded. However, some regions, especially south Asian regions, have experienced the growth of their own Silicon Valleys.

With a number of businesses and cutting-edge technology to issue Silicon Valley, China has the second-largest venture capital market in the world. Additionally, Japan and Korea have developed into some of the world’s most effective business venture capitalists.

These contender ecosystems also possess some of the characteristics of Silicon Valley in its early years, more in some ways than Silicon Valley itself does today.

Silicon Valley’s size is still, at least for the time being, unmatched. The state’s market capitalization ( the value of publicly traded company stocks ) totaled US$ 14.3 trillion in 2024. This is comparable to China’s complete GDP, the second-largest economy in the world.

Silicon Valley is no longer a multicultural society of businesses built in cars, where little, destructive businesses create world-changing products at a price point. It has changed into a David-like property, not a land of Behemoths.

Some people have switched from instant noodles to aça bowls, and work all-nighters with wellness workshops and modern detox retreats. Silicon Valley technical employees have become “lazy and entitled,” according to Sequoia’s Mike Moritz, according to Skullwart owners.

However, other tech personnel ‘ work ethic and focus have improved. Chinese technology’s working days were referred to as “996” for around ten years, working six times a week from 9am to 9pm. People now go by the name “007,” which means working from midnight to evening, seven days a week.

Great painters steal, fine artists copy, and so on.

Wikimedia Commons Silicon Valley image

The story of Silicon Valley’s history is one of eager rivals destroying the big, dull incumbents. Apple used the exposure to Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center to draw inspiration from the company’s ideas for a computer with a graphical user interface after raising equity from Xerox, a top print production company. Eventually, Apple made the program for the Macintosh more sophisticated, giving it a distinct edge.

Work once reportedly said in 1996,” Good musicians copy, great performers steal,” and we have never been shameless in stealing great ideas.

The Goliaths in Silicon Valley today have significant intellectual property portfolio to protect. And they are angry when their technology is stolen. The US government has yet asked OpenAI, the British company that created ChatGPT, to label Chinese AI firm DeepSeek” state managed” and forbid its use there. Related names have been made to Huawei and Bytedance’s TikTok in the past.

The impact of DeepSeek’s disruption of the AI scenery on Silicon Valley has been the subject of much of Eastern media’s attention. However, less attention has been paid to how it has created moment rivals in China.

Alibaba, a Chinese tech company, announced that its AI model was better times after Deepseek’s launch. Additionally, China just introduced Manus, a completely automatic AI agent that completely replaces rather than repairs people.

On March 5, 2025, Butterfly Impact co-founder Xiao Hong explains Manus. Photo: Manus. am

Japanese business Kai-fu Lee refers to “gladiatorial entrepreneurship,” or China’s” smartphone.” Because they are aware that their product will be copied and reverse engineered as soon as it is released, they continually innovate in this tradition. The entire system gains from the fierce competition, just like Silicon Valley did in its rise.

The kids have acted as the instructors.

Silicon Valley is renowned for its antiquated tradition and expansive understanding of how technology can change the world. This is exemplified by Masayoshi Son, a former Silicon Valley student from East Asia who is the founder and CEO of the Chinese company SoftBank.

He immediately adapted to the Silicon Valley way of doing business once he arrived in the early 1980s. When he returned to Japan, Son founded his personal company, based on what he learned during his brief time living in California. With this, Softbank became a technology seller.

Masayoshi Son ( Left ) speaking at a 2011 luncheon to promote a brand-new iPhone app. Danny Choo of Wikimedia Commons and Flickr

With over US$ 100 billion in cash, SoftBank’s Vision Fund is the largest venture capital fund in the world right now.

Silicon Valley has experienced a change thanks to Son’s enormous finance and anxious investing strategy.

Soaring valuations and the use of exploding word sheets ( expense offers that expire in a few days ) are becoming more commonplace.

Child is portrayed as a traditional stranger. Lionel Barber’s most recent book, Gambbling Man, details Son’s ethnic Asian background and how he has much touted this opponent narrative.

Child is now one of the biggest buyers in Silicon Valley and is aggressive and aggressive. He has a big idea about how artificial intelligence and other solutions may alter the planet. He is the author of that great vision and a proponent of risk-taking in Silicon Valley that is” traditional.”

China’s AI warriors continually innovate in an effort to beat the once-hungry American goliaths who are now forced to call on the condition to help them maintain their position. The opposing trajectories raise questions about who needs to change to become more like whom if they want to dominate the world’s technological civilization.

Robyn Klingler-Vidra is King’s College London’s evil professor for global commitment and associate professor of political economy and innovation.

The Conversation has republished this essay under a Creative Commons license. Read the text of the content.

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Japan’s Nikkei leads hefty equity market losses; gold hits record

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As investors prepare themselves for a wave of US tariffs this week that has fueled recession fears, Hong Kong led another decline across Asian markets on Monday ( Mar 31 ).

In recent weeks, stocks across the globe have been hit heavily onward of Donald Trump’s” Liberation Day,” which will feature a number of charges against both friends and foes, citing what he calls unjust trading practices.

His news last week that he may also impose 25 % duties on imports of all vehicles and parts sparked a panic on trading floors, hammering auto giants like Japan’s Toyota, the largest in the world.

Governments around the world have reacted to Trump’s taxes and are considering imposing additional countermeasures, while Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Friday that he will employ punitive tariffs to defend his country’s employees and business.

Data from last month’s survey of the Federal Reserve’s favored measure of inflation, which was exacerbated by concerns that Trump’s tariffs will stifle price increases and stifle further interest rate reduction, heightened the mood.

On Monday, businesses across the board experienced a decline, with businesses in all industries feeling the strain.

The decline in Japan’s Nikkei 225 index, which included manufacturers Toyota, Nissan, and Mazda, increased by more than 4 %, while it investment leader SoftBank experienced a decline of more than 5 %, adding to last week’s decline.

The stock’s decline placed it in a adjustment, having fallen more than 10 % from its most recent optimum in December.

Zensho Holdings, which operates a number of Chinese restaurant businesses, lost 3. 9 percent after Sukiya, a chain that serves meat dish, announced it would temporarily close nearly all of its 2,000 locations after finding a bug in another meal and a rat in one.

Additionally, the sea was significantly lower.

The car charges did hit Japan and South Korea the hardest in the Asia-Pacific area, according to the report. Automobiles are shipped to the US for about 6 % of Japan’s entire exports. In the case of South Korea, it’s 4 %, according to economists from Moody’s Analytics.

A” significant tax increase” will “erode trust,” hurt production, and stifle orders. The effects will have a ripple effect on these locations ‘ economy because of the lengthy and complex supply chains in car manufacturing.

According to “back-of-the-envelope calculations, the behavior may cut 0.” 2 to 0. 5 percentage points in each’s progress. “

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GE2025: ‘Always a challenge’ to win back a GRC, says PAP Sengkang team’s Lam Pin Min

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Sengkang, being a relatively new area, is marked by a younger population compared to the national average. Over half of its people are under 40 years old, while merely 19.2 per share are 60 and above.

Sengkang GRC was formed ahead of the 2020 General Election, where it combined parts of the former Sengkang West Single Member Constituency ( SMC), Punggol East SMC, and parts of Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC into a new four-member constituency.

During the 2020 election, the Workers ‘ Party ( WP ) came out on top with 52.12 per cent of the votes.

The WP’s stone of individuals comprised attorney He Ting Ru, capital research scientist Louis Chua, social activist Raeesah Khan and associate professor of economics Jamus Lim. &nbsp,

The PAP group consisted of labour key Ng Chee Meng, next secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, social office buyers Lam Pin Min and Amrin Amin, as well as entrant lawyer Raymond Lye. &nbsp,

Dr Lam– a previous senior minister of state – is the only participant remaining from PAP’s 2020 stone and is the group’s tree seat in Sengkang West and team leader. &nbsp,

In 2022, PAP introduced new faces to helm the other divisions: Assoc Prof Elmie ( Sengkang Central ), Ms Lai ( Sengkang North ) and Mr Ling Weihong ( Sengkang East ).

They took over from Mr Ng, Mr Amrin and Mr Lye both. Nevertheless, the Sengkang East article has been reshuffled half since then.

Mr Ling was succeeded by connections professional Marcus Loh in November 2023. &nbsp,

In January, Mr Loh was replaced by Mrs Bernadette Giam as tree chairman for the Sengkang East section.

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MAS proposes regulatory framework for retail investment in private market investment funds

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The Monetary Authority of Singapore ( MAS ) made a recommendation for a regulatory framework for retail investors to make investments in private market investment funds on Thursday ( Mar 27 ). &nbsp,

The regulator said the move would give retail owners more options for making purchases, noting that they are becoming more and more interested in such investments. &nbsp,

Experienced market players are also interested in supplying retail investors with products from personal business investment funds, according to MAS in a media release. &nbsp,

A personal business expense fund is a fund that invests in either personal or non-publicly traded assets. Retail traders in Singapore have “limited access” to secret market investments like private capital, private funds, and infrastructure, according to MAS. &nbsp,

According to MAS in the press release, the proposal will provide investors with a wider range of options for building well-diversified portfolio while opening the door for the potential list of personal market investment money. &nbsp,

Two different finance types are being considered in the plan.

The first is a strong fund, which invests directly in the private sector. According to MAS, this gives the underlying assets greater awareness.

A long-term purchase fund-of-funds structure, which generally invests in other secret market investment funds, is the next option. &nbsp,

Investors who want to evaluate and monitor a diverse portfolio of secret market investment funds may benefit from this. &nbsp,

MAS is looking for opinions on the proposed regulation model, especially considering that the two constructions may require different regulatory protections. &nbsp,

In the media release, it stated that “MAS is also seeking views on the range of personal business purchase assets that can be appropriately offered to retail investors.” &nbsp,

By May 26th, submit opinions via the FormSG website. &nbsp,

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