I think this ignores that, that trading system is held together at the end of the day, by the stability of the US and the might of its military.
We cannot be blind to the harsh reality, it’s not as simple as saying okay, we’re gonna do this without the US, what the US, setup, was a rules based global order that meant that instead of just taking your neighbors oil, you paid for it and everyone benefited.
What the Singapore PM is saying, is once that collapses, regional conflict over resources becomes more likely, that could become global.
The EU, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea as an example, have nowhere near the ability to fill that role combined and our interests won’t necessarily align that we will, Trump makes that incredibly difficult.
So, we’ll see, unless congress gets so much pressure from constituents that they remove that power and stop the President from doing these things, the world will have to navigate these extremely treacherous waters and as the PM said…
“The risks are real and the stakes are high”.