ports

Singapore Pushes Back Against US Transhipment Allegations

Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong rejected US claims that the city-state facilitates illegal transhipment networks for Chinese exporters seeking to evade American tariffs. Wong said it would be impractical for Singapore to verify the origin of every shipment transiting its facilities. The White House report named Singapore among more than 40 nations allegedly involved in schemes to disguise goods' origins and circumvent US trade restrictions. Singapore processed 44.66 million TEU last year, with 85-90% classified as transhipments, making it the world's largest transhipment hub. Wong acknowledged established rules of origin exist in international trade. He argued that verifying complete supply chains behind every product passing through the port exceeds practical capability. He pledged Singapore would investigate and act on evidence of wrongdoing while maintaining that limits exist to enforcement scope.