Working Visit by Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan to Washington D.C., 4 to 7 June 2025

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan wrapped up a fruitful visit to Washington D.C. on 7 June 2025.

Minister Balakrishnan held discussions with senior administration officials past and present. He also had extensive meetings with Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle. They discussed a broad range of issues and reaffirmed the strong and enduring relationship between Singapore and the US. Minister Balakrishnan conveyed Singapore’s appreciation for the bipartisan support that enabled cooperation to flourish across a wide range of areas. Both sides expressed commitment to continued constructive engagement and to advance cooperation in traditional areas of the economy, defence, and security, as well as new and emerging areas such as critical technologies, energy, and artificial intelligence.

Minister Balakrishnan also engaged US media and think tank personalities. He participated in a fireside chat at the Hudson Institute on The Evolving Indo-Pacific Order and shared Singapore’s perspective on current geopolitical developments.

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

SINGAPORE

7 JUNE 2025

TRANSCRIPT OF MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS DR VIVIAN BALAKRISHNAN’S DOORSTOP INTERVIEW WITH SINGAPORE MEDIA, 7 JUNE 2025

Minister: Hi everyone, thank you for joining me. It has been a very busy week after the numerous meetings of the Shangri-La Dialogue over the weekend. First stop was in London to catch up with David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary. The UK and Singapore obviously have a long established, stable and excellent relationship. UK is also now part of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). There was a lot to discuss, both in terms of the economic ties as well as geostrategic issues and what other areas of cooperation that we can pursue with the United Kingdom.

I arrived in Washington the next day, and it has been another very hectic series of meetings with senior officials, the Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as other friends, both in the current and past administrations. There were also numerous meetings with Senators and other members of Congress. I think it was important for this series of meetings to be held and to be held now. This is, in a sense, of us, face to face interaction between the new administration and Singapore. And obviously, this is a time of great change, and in some cases, great uncertainty, and it was necessary for us to be able to meet face to face, to reaffirm the relationship, as well as to seek clarifications on a variety of issues.

The first point I would make is that the relationship with the United States is a vital, critical one for Singapore, it spans the entire gamut from the economy, defence, security and we are also pursuing emerging opportunities in areas like cyber security and energy. It is a relationship which needs to be tended to and attended to carefully. In terms of areas where the anxiety obviously is, we had a fairly extensive discussion on tariffs, the impact of tariffs on open economies like Singapore. And as I said earlier, I was assured that the moves that America has made on tariffs and trade are not directed at Singapore specifically. Nevertheless, I expressed our concern with the secondary impact, because any impact on global trade, any friction in the system, will have an impact on an open economy like ours, where our trading volume is three times our GDP. So that point needed to be made.

Our American interlocutors understood that concern, and there are other potential sectoral tariffs, which we will also have to look very carefully for over the next few weeks to months. So that was an essential series of conversations. On the other fronts in terms of emerging technologies and opportunities, again, we reaffirmed that these areas remain valid. These areas provide opportunities for both America and Singapore, and we will continue these discussions in the months to come. So all in all, this is still a strong, stable relationship, reaffirmed, but occurring at a time of great change, a time of anxiety, and in fact, calls for even closer consultation and coordination.

I will be happy to take questions.

Tan Ke-Yang (LHZB): Good morning, Minister, or evening over that side. Were there any challenges in engaging the Americans, and are you confident in the outlook for Singapore in terms of the new world order that is still taking shape?

Minister:There were no hurdles or impediments interacting with the Americans. They were very welcoming and courteous. We got along in our own usual direct and constructive manner. No anxiety on that front. The anxiety is that we have reached the end of a world order that has prevailed for 80 years, and we are now in a period of transition to a new world order. No one can be sure of the exact contours of that new world order. And the point which the Prime Minister and I have been making for some time, is that Singapore's success and progress so far has been highly optimised on an old world order based on open, free trade, free flow of investments, capital, and a multilateral rules-based order. That is clearly changing, and the time of greatest danger is the interregnum – the transition period from one world order to the next. That is why this is a time where we need to be alert, we need to keep our eyes and ears open, and we need to respond promptly and quickly to changes. And it is also important to interact frequently, candidly, openly and constructively with our interlocutors, and especially with a superpower which is of great strategic importance to us. What is important is to recognise that the situation has changed, to be able to have complete, comprehensive and candid conversations, and for us to take the appropriate precautionary measures, or to make the necessary adjustments domestically as well.

Nasyrah (CNA): Hi, morning Minister. I am Nasyrah from CNA TV. My question to you is, in your meetings with US officials, what stage of discussions are you at for the lifting or reduction of US tariffs imposed on Singapore as well as restrictions on student visas – what solutions or resolutions were arrived at?

Minister: I think it would be premature to say that the issue of tariffs has been concluded. In fact, if you look at the series of announcements made by the US, there have been revisions, and revisions to revisions. There are even legal challenges. So it is premature to conclude what the final shape of the tariff regime will be. That is the first point.

The second point is that clearly, the United States is looking for multiple rounds of negotiations with all its trading partners, and this will take time. You need time for these series of bilateral negotiations to take place. The third point, however, is still a recognition- and I would say this based on my interactions with senators and members of Congress across the aisle, that means bipartisan- that there is still a recognition that trade, investment, intellectual property protection, reliability, supply chain security are vital issues. Do not just look at the headline numbers of what the tariffs are, but rather think about the primary considerations and anxieties of policy makers across the whole world. Negotiators will have to exercise discretion and care in how each country seeks to preserve and protect its national interests. If everybody digs in and everybody assumes the worst, we could be in a far worse situation. It is better to take the time, carefully consider your domestic circumstances and then to negotiate. That is in general, from a purely Singapore perspective, at this point in time, the only tariffs which we may be exposed to is the baseline tariff of 10 percent. How long that will remain in place? It is a point of speculation. But the thing which we are even more concerned with is on sectoral tariffs, to try to minimise them to the maximum extent possible. I have made the point repeatedly to my American counterparts, that in fact, America has a trade surplus against Singapore. And if you look at it specifically, on that point, I was quite categorical, and in fact, Singapore should not be subject even to that baseline  tariff. But anyway, we will wait and see. I think we are still in the early stages of our discussions and negotiations, so let us watch this space.

On student visas, now that is another issue which is of concern, both to the Singaporean students already here, especially those in Harvard; there must be many more students currently in Singapore who are hoping to study in the United States, and they have expressed their concern to MFA on whether there is going to be any delay in the processing of their visa applications. Our embassy in Washington has brought this up to seek clarification from the State Department and also with the Department of Homeland Security.

Again, we hope that there will be clarifications issued by the American authorities in the next few days, but I need to also be quite candid. In a sense, these are domestic political issues within America itself, and the situation confronting our students is not confined to Singapore, but indeed to all international students. Again, it is not directed at us. Nevertheless, you can become affected as collateral damage. And there is going to be a period of at least the next few days or weeks, and there will be some uncertainty. Nevertheless, we will continue to pursue this with the American authorities, and I hope we will be able to find suitable solutions for our students who want to pursue educational opportunities in the United States. On the macro level, it is still in our interest and in America’s interest to keep opportunities open for Singaporeans who want to come here to study and perhaps even work for a few years, expand their domain experience and expand their networks. This is an issue that we will continue to pursue with the State Department.

Tan Min-Wei (Mothership): Good morning Minister. At the 2025 Shangri-La Dialogue US Secretary Defence Hegseth indicated that the US’ main geopolitical priority was the Indo Pacific. The US has regularly attempted to make this commitment but has often ended up being distracted by other priorities. Something that Secretary Hegseth also alluded to is, fifth time the charm? What has changed in this administration to make this commitment?

Minister: Well, I would actually take a step back. The question which I posed to my American counterparts is: What are the strategic interests of the United States in the Asia Pacific? The answer to that is obvious. America has more investments in Southeast Asia than it has invested in India, China, Japan and Korea combined. So, as they say down here, they have real skin in the game.

Next point is that the flow of investments and trade both ways have generated jobs – not only in Southeast Asia, but in the case of America. I think the two-way trade and investments in Southeast Asia have generated probably half a million jobs in America itself, and good jobs at that. So, there are strategic interests which bring mutual benefit to both Southeast Asia and America.

We should not focus excessively on the military direction because I think it is worth remembering that there has first to be interests, and interests that need to be protected. Now specifically on the military side, I think you should look at Shangri-La Dialogue as a major forum for military diplomacy. And what that means is it still serves a very useful purpose for defence ministers, senior military leaders, geopolitical analysts and strategists to get together in a secure, convivial and candid environment, to minimise misunderstandings and to expand opportunities for cooperation.

So, my point is that I was not surprised at the speech delivered by the Secretary of Defence, and I see it as an affirmation that America recognises that it has strategic interests in our part of the world. The way it is expressed may change, but strategic interests remain unchanged.

Abigail (CNA Digital): Hi Minister. Just now you mentioned that you continue to pursue the issue of student visas with the State Department in the US.

Minister: Yes, we will continue to seek clarifications.

Abigail (CNA Digital): Could you elaborate on contingencies being planned to help Singaporean students if they really find themselves being unable to continue with their plans to study in the US?

Minister: Well, I am not in a position to give any guarantees that this will be resolved in time. We are already in early June. I think the academic term in America begins in August, so there really isn’t that much time. So, we will have to watch this space, but rest assured that we will continue to do our best to try to at least get clarification, get certainty on what the issues and how thereafter,  give our students specific advice.

So far, the students with the greatest concern have been the Singaporeans studying in Harvard. Our Ambassador here has had a virtual townhall meeting with them. We are also trying to find solutions to deal with the worst-case scenario where they would not be able to physically study in Boston, and we have got some ideas for how we can help them. You know, in a sense, deal with that eventuality without impairing their academic and professional progress therefrom. For others who are not yet here, or who have not yet secured visas – you may also need to have back-up plans.

But my main point is we will stay in touch, and we will continue to keep you informed.

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