Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said Monday night that U.S.-China relations have entered a dynamic of "mutually assured disruption" [1].
This warning comes as the global community anticipates an upcoming summit between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. Because the two largest economies are deeply intertwined, a breakdown in communication or an escalation of restrictive measures could trigger systemic economic instability worldwide.
Speaking at the Singapore Press Club’s Eminent Speaker Series on June 8, 2026 [1], Wong said that neither nation can afford to decouple completely from the other. He said that the current trajectory of imposing restrictions is counterproductive for both parties [1].
"Both sides will be worse off if they continue imposing restrictions on one another – it creates a mutually assured disruption," Wong said [1].
The Prime Minister said that the necessity of coexistence is a matter of economic reality rather than political preference. He said that the level of integration between the U.S. and Chinese markets makes total separation impossible without severe collateral damage [2].
"The two economies have to recognise they must coexist because they are too deeply intertwined," Wong said [2].
Wong said for the maintenance of open lines of communication to manage competition and avoid accidental escalation. He said that the upcoming Trump-Xi summit serves as a critical opportunity to establish guardrails, and recognize the mutual dependence of their financial systems [1].
Throughout the address, the Prime Minister said that restrictive measures by either side would harm both economies [1]. He said the superpowers to move toward a framework of stable coexistence to ensure global economic predictability [2].
“Both sides will be worse off if they continue imposing restrictions on one another”
Singapore's position reflects the anxiety of small, trade-dependent nations that are caught in the crossfire of superpower competition. By framing the situation as 'mutually assured disruption,' Wong is signaling that the economic cost of a trade war or total decoupling is now too high for even the U.S. and China to ignore, making the upcoming summit a pivotal moment for global market stability.
