(March 13): Singapore said it ran a trade deficit with the US in 2024, disputing figures published by Washington that showed the city-state posted a surplus and challenging suggestions that it is contributing to global manufacturing overcapacity. In a Federal Register notice, the USTR highlighted Singapore as having a bilateral trade surplus with the US in both goods and services amounting to US$27 billion (RM106 billion) in 2024. Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said in a statement on Thursday that isn’t borne out by the US’s own data. Citing figures from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, the ministry said Singapore had a US$1.7 billion goods trade deficit and a US$25.1 billion services trade deficit with the US in 2024 — leaving it with a total trade deficit of about US$27 billion. Singapore said it has provided the USTR with its data and will engage the agency to seek clarification on the trade figures and the basis of the Section 301 investigations.

Source: The Edge Markets March 13, 2026 01:45 UTC