US Tariffs Bite, Faishal Exits

The US hit Singapore with tariffs, a minister resigned over inappropriate messages, HSBC sold its life unit, and BYD is dominating car sales.

Jul 27, 2026

Singapore business, finance and trade news, every Monday.

a group of people at a theme park — Photo by Zheng Yuan Lee on Unsplash

US Hits Singapore With 12.5% Section 301 Tariff

The US Trade Representative hit Singapore with a 12.5% tariff from July 24, covering about a third of domestic exports to America, after a Section 301 probe found the country failed to "impose and effectively enforce" a ban on forced-labour imports. Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan brought it up with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Manila, arguing Washington runs a growing trade surplus and has "no technical or economic basis" for the levy. Semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and energy products are exempted. The pain will be felt on non-electronics, non-oil shipments that were already underperforming. MTI says it will “keep engaging the USTR" and share implementation details "when ready." A second Section 301 investigation, into alleged excess manufacturing capacity, is still pending.

Read more: CNA (Section 232 exemptions), Straits Times (Rubio meeting), Business Times (60 economies count), Yahoo Finance (Balakrishnan pushback), Business Times (GDP growth forecast)

Faishal Resigns Over "Inappropriate" Messages

Faishal Ibrahim quit as Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs, Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs, MP for Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, and the PAP on July 20, after online exchanges with a woman he met on the sidelines of public events turned into what Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said were "objectively, inappropriate and questionable." PM Lawrence Wong learned of it only when the woman e-mailed his office with screenshots that he said left him in "disbelief and shock." Faishal accepted his position was untenable.

Read more: Business Times (acting minister), Business Times (career timeline)

Cabinet Reshuffled, Energy Added to MTI Portfolio

Following Ibrahim's exit, K Shanmugam will join Lee Hsien Loong in the senior minister ranks from Sunday, and Jeffrey Siow, David Neo and Sim Ann will move up to full ministers after more than a year as acting or junior office-holders. NTUC chief Ng Chee Meng comes back to Cabinet as minister in the Prime Minister's Office, ending the "temporary arrangement" Wong granted him after the 2025 election so he could focus on Jalan Kayu and labour. Tan See Leng moves from Manpower to the newly renamed Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry as of October 1, splitting the energy and industry brief with DPM Gan Kim Yong, who will stay on at trade. Two backbenchers, Foo Cexiang and Shawn Loh, will enter government for the first time as ministers of state.

Read more: Business Times (portfolio assignments), Business Times (Sim Ann promotion), Business Times (clean energy rationale)

HSBC Sells Life Unit to Allianz, Keeps the Counter

HSBC agreed to sell HSBC Life Singapore to Allianz for S$2.7 billion ($2.09 billion), with the German insurer's Allianz Asia Holding taking 100% of the shares. The insurer posted S$118 million in pretax profit last year. It was also Singapore's top insurer for high-net-worth clients in both 2024 and 2025. The two sides signed a 15-year exclusive bancassurance agreement, with Allianz paying a further S$200 million upfront for the right to keep using HSBC's branches and wealth advisers as a distribution arm. HSBC will book a $1.8 billion pretax gain. Regulators still need to sign off, completion is expected in the first half of next year.

Read more: Yahoo Finance (Elhedery restructuring), Allianz (€2.0B total deal), Yahoo Finance (CET1 ratio), Yahoo Finance (share price reaction)

BYD Claims a Quarter of New Car Sales

BYD registered 6,828 cars in the first half of 2026, up 46.3 percent from a year earlier, pushing its market share to 25.2 percent and keeping it well ahead of Toyota. Tesla doubled its registrations to 2,826 to crack the top three, and Chery's count ballooned from 195 to 1,270. EVs now make up 62.4 percent of new registrations, up from 41 percent last year. BMW and Mercedes-Benz, squeezed by February's rebate cuts, saw sales drop 40.3 percent and 33.8 percent respectively.

Read more: Business Times (brand-by-brand breakdown), Business Times (all COE categories)

Prices Tick Up, MAS Set to Sit Still

Core inflation climbed to 1.6 per cent in June from May's 1.4 per cent on pricier food, services and retail goods. Headline inflation moved up bit to 1.9 per cent (from 1.8), as housing rents pushed harder. MAS and MTI have kept their 2026 full-year band at 1.5 to 2.5 per cent, though they dropped a line about easing global energy prices, and are still saying that risks are "tilted to the upside.” MAS is expected to leave policy untouched at its July meeting.

Read more: Business Times (CPI breakdown), Business Times (outlook)

CSA Makes MINDEF Cyber Tool Mandatory Across CII Sectors

Operators across all 11 critical infrastructure sectors, from banking to water to government, must use a MINDEF-built intrusion detection tool and put cybersecurity on the board's agenda under the new Cybersecurity Code of Practice. The tool, built by MINDEF's Centre for Strategic Infocomm Technologies, already runs in some CII systems and is heading for a wider rollout after state-linked group UNC3886's July 2025 breach of Singtel, StarHub, M1 and Simba Telecom. Announcing the rules on July 22, Minister Josephine Teo said the change is necessary as AI-assisted attacks have outpaced existing defenses.

JPMorgan Moves China Quant Team to Singapore

JPMorgan Chase has moved more than 30 quantitative researchers out of Beijing and Shanghai, sending 25 to 30 to Singapore and about six to Hong Kong. The bank is consolidating its quant trading and research staff in regional hubs that are closer to the business divisions they serve instead of running the function out of mainland offices. No public statement came with the transfers.

Grab, Sea and SpaceX Join SGX as First USSDRs

Grab, Sea and SpaceX began trading as SGX's first US-listed depository receipts on Wednesday, taking the exchange's SDR count to 38 across four markets. Retail investors can now buy a piece of Musk's rocket company in Singapore dollars during local trading hours, with no foreign exchange conversion required. SDR assets under management have risen 153 per cent year on year to more than S$280 million ($214 million). Retail investors hold more than 80 per cent of the total.

Ant International Raises $1.2 Billion

Ant International, spun off from Ant Group in 2024 and headquartered in Singapore, raised $1.2 billion in Series A funding from Ant Group, Alibaba and unnamed international institutional investors. The cross-border payments arm runs Alipay+, Antom, WorldFirst and Bettr, and connects 150 million merchants to more than two billion user accounts across 220-plus markets.

Fed Wu's Ferrari Imports Draw 26 Charges

Car dealer Wu Chong, known as Fed Wu, is getting 26 charges over roughly S$1.1 million ($860,000) in evaded duty and GST on 123 cars imported between February 2019 and November 2024 through his firm allmotoring.sg. The haul included 30 Porsches, five Ferraris and five Rolls-Royces, with retail prices on models like the Rolls-Royce Cullinan and Ferrari 488 Pista topping S$1.5 million ($1.17 million). Wu allegedly submitted fraudulent Declaration of Facts forms to Singapore Customs, undervaluing the cars. Fellow dealer Goh Chee Sing of Privilege Motors was also charged with funding the purchases. Combined penalties across all 26 charges total S$22.7 million ($17.7 million). The next hearing is July 31.

Singapore Weekly

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