US-China ties in ‘more challenging place’ after Trump win: Singapore’s PM Wong

The relationship between the United States and China is in “a more challenging place”, although it remains to be seen where tensions between the superpowers may be headed following Republican Donald Trump’s election victory, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said on Friday .

Trump, who scored a resounding victory this week to make his return to the White House, has threatened to raise tariffs to 60 per cent for goods imported into the US from China. This is much higher than the levies of 7.5 to 25 per cent he had imposed in his first term.

“Where China is concerned, I think it remains to be seen because we’ve heard what Mr Trump hopes to do in his campaign but what he actually does, we will have to see, including what happens with the key members of his administration and the key members of his Cabinet,” Wong said at a press conference with the local media.

“But I would say taking a step back [and] setting aside the issue of who is in power, the broad dynamics in the US-China relationship is one where we are very concerned about.”

For one thing, while the US remains a pre-eminent power across many dimensions, it has seen China on the rise and it will have to decide whether to “treat this as an existential threat and therefore to contain China, or to embrace China and accept China as a major power in its own right”.

Likewise, China also has decisions to make. Given its rising power and heft in the global economy, it has to consider what responsibilities it will undertake to uphold the international order.