Key ideas from Lee Hsien Loong

• Singapore's Prime Minister sees the world in "a great transition to a multipolar world, a post-American order" with no country able to replace America's global role, creating prolonged instability.
• "The old rules do not apply anymore but the new ones have not been written" - Prime Minister on navigating the current international disorder.
• Singapore is starting to feel economic slowdown in second half of the year as businesses hold back on investments due to uncertainty, acting as "the canary in the coal mine."
• China's per capita GDP is just one-fifth of America's, but it has become a technological leader in advanced manufacturing and renewable energy, representing a "risen power."
• The Future of Investment and Trade Partnership brings together 15 small trade-dependent economies that already have virtually tariff-free trade to push new initiatives on standardization and digital facilitation.
• "When one economy squeezes, the other squeezes back right away. So you end up in a path of mutually assured destruction" - Prime Minister on US-China economic tensions.
• Singapore maintains it will not tolerate businesses violating laws or circumventing export controls, with robust arrangements allowing US government to investigate companies of interest.
• The hardest part of being Prime Minister has been party renewal: dropping team members before elections despite personal difficulty, prioritizing long-term success over short-term comfort.