Members of "Red Lions" Singapore Armed Forces parachute team during 2023 National Day celebrations (Roslan Rahman/AFP via Getty Images)

Singapore in a spin under Trump

Small states see much to lose when might is right.

Rahman Yaacob

19 February 20253 min read

Singapore relations with the United States were built on a foundation of strong defence ties rooted in shared values and mutual interests – a stable rule-based global order and multilateralism. In the Cold War years, the Americans armed the Singapore Armed Forces in exchange for access to Singaporean military facilities. In the late 1970s, Washington even agreed to provide Singapore with offensive-oriented weapons to conduct a pre-emptive military campaign in West Malaysia as a defensive measure against the growing communist insurgency threatening Kuala Lumpur.

Those ties continued and enabled the United States to maintain power projection in the Indo-Pacific region. American aircraft carriers have access to Changi Naval Base in Singapore. In return, Washington allowed Singapore to acquire advanced American military platforms such as the HIMARS and F-35 combat aircraft.

Yet Donald Trump’s approach to foreign policy, from threatening military actions against small states such as Denmark and Panama to attacking multilateral institutions, has created a destabilising global strategic environment that runs contrary to Singapore’s interests.

Two sets of remarks in recent days make Singapore’s angst clear.

The first by former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who pointed out the international environment was “far less orderly and predictable” given that the “US is no longer prepared to underwrite the global order.”

Lee’s speech was significant given that Singapore has often been the stand-out security partner of the United States in Southeast Asia. More importantly, knowing that the media would report on the speech, it appeared the Singaporean government made a calculated move to signal that it was uncomfortable with Trump’s foreign policy.

And that seemed confirmed at the weekend, when Singapore’s Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen bluntly declared that the image of the United States in Asia has changed “from liberator to disruptor to landlord seeking rent”.

Singapore’s concerns are not entirely new. When Lee was prime minister in 2021, he was asked about bilateral ties during a meeting with then US Vice President Kamala Harris. Lee explained that the United States is critical because of its role as a “regional guarantor of security and support of prosperity.” Singapore, he said, works on the basis that the United States will continue to play that role.

Trump seems to promise otherwise.

If the underlying assumptions for strong bilateral ties – with the US as a guarantor and supporter of security and prosperity – cease to exist, so too will the strong ties.

Trump has evinced no regard for the rules-based order, shown by his comments on negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine, which would reward Russian aggression. Trump emphasises the primacy of might is right, a world where coerciveness is acceptable in inter-state relations, putting small states such as Singapore, with few resources, at the mercy of larger hostile actors.

Moreover, Trump’s approach to economic relations threatens Singapore’s prosperity. His threat to withdraw from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank and impose tariffs on its trading partners will undermine global financial and economic stability, potentially damaging Singapore’s open economy, which relies on the free movement of goods and services across states.

If the underlying assumptions for strong bilateral ties – with the United States as a guarantor and supporter of security and prosperity – cease to exist, so too will the strong ties. Singapore's current political leaders will likely adapt and adjust to the new world order, working closely with others for shared economic prosperity and likely diminishing Washington’s influence in the long run.

About the author

Rahman Yaacob

Dr Abdul Rahman Yaacob was a Research Fellow in the Southeast Asia Program at the Lowy Institute.

Topics

Singapore