By Ndubuisi Micheal Obineme
…says US IRA catalyzes business opportunities between the United States and Singapore.
Singapore – Ivan Tan, Director of Trade at Enterprise Singapore has said that the development of a green economy will strengthen the US-Singapore relations in the energy sector. Tan made this known while speaking in an interview with The Energy Republic.
The year 2024 marks the 20th anniversary of the United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (USSFTA). The USSFTA is the United States’ first Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with a country in the Asia-Pacific. Since the agreement came into force in 2004, bilateral trade in goods and services has almost tripled, from US$40 billion in 2003 to US$120 billion in 2022.
Speaking further, he noted that the United States companies have been a prominent industry player with significant investment in Singapore, adding that multinational companies such as ExxonMobil, and Chevron have significant investments and they continue to invest in Singapore.
According to reports, there are nearly 6,000 US companies doing business in Singapore in major industries such as the energy, financial, insurance, manufacturing, wholesale, and retail trade sectors.
On the other hand, the United States hosts approximately 200 Singaporean companies in the US across several sectors including the energy, real estate, information technology, agribusiness, logistics, healthcare, fintech, manufacturing, and retail sectors.
In 2022, the US was Singapore’s 2nd largest trading partner, while Singapore was the US’ 17th largest trading partner. The US has been Singapore’s top trading partner in services for over 20 years with bilateral services trade at S$154.2 billion (approx. US$144.8 billion) in 2022.
Notably, the US has consistently been among Singapore’s top 3 trading partners in goods and was Singapore’s second-largest goods trading partner in 2023 with S$129 billion worth of goods trade.
In terms of investment, Singapore is the top recipient of US investment in the Indo-Pacific and 6th worldwide (by country) in 2023. US investment in Singapore is larger than that in Mainland China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea combined.
Furthermore, US Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) stock in Singapore was US$424 billion (approx. S$555.5 bn) in 2023, while Singapore was the 3rd largest Asian investor in the US with S$76.5 billion (US$58.4 billion) of FDI stock in 2023. The top industries for this investments were Finance & Insurance, Professional and Administrative & Support Services, Real Estate and Manufacturing.
Overall, the Singapore-US bilateral economic relationship, including Singapore’s investments in the United States as well as US goods and services exports to Singapore, supports more than 250,000 jobs in the US. The number of jobs supported by Singapore companies in the US grew by 33% from 2010–2020.
Adding to this, Tan expressed optimism on how the US-Singapore relations have progressed over the years, noting that Enterprise Singapore would continue working with the United States in strengthening their relations in the green economy development.
He further elaborated that the government agency would facilitate the trade of green commodities such as ammonia, methanol, as well as promote green economy investment between both countries.
He added, ” We hope we can increase trade flows in low-carbon fuels between Singapore and the US.” Citing the example of Ammonia, he added that “trades in Ammonia can play a role in strengthening US-Singapore relations, as the US can become a major exporter of green ammonia and methanol due to its renewable energy potential. Singapore hopes to facilitate the US’ export of green ammonia and methanol to Asia.
“Enterprise Singapore is happy and ready to facilitate more Singapore companies to invest in the United States, particularly with the US Inflation Reduction Act which catalyzes business opportunities between the United States and Singapore. We would like our companies to benefit from it.”
Enterprise Singapore is a government agency under the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry.