Analysts are urging the region’s SMEs to diversify supply chains and invest in risk management to survive this new, unstable trade landscape.
In boardrooms and backstreets from Singapore to Hanoi, owners of Asia’s small and medium-sized enterprises had barely got over the shock of the pandemic’s economic upheaval when another disruption arrived – this time from Washington, in the form of new tariffs that risk upending cross-border commerce and livelihoods.
Following a series of hard-fought trade negotiations with the Trump administration, many Southeast Asian nations now find themselves confronting US tariffs ranging from 19 to 20 per cent, alongside additional, sector-specific duties targeting industries such as steel and semiconductors.
