Grant of up to $100k for businesses to cope with US tariffs available from Oct 7

A two-year government grant of up to $100,000 is now available to local businesses that export or operate in overseas markets, amid concerns over the impact of the recent trade tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump.

The Business Adaptation Grant will support up to 50 per cent of eligible costs for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and up to 30 per cent for non-SMEs, Enterprise Singapore said in a factsheet on Tuesday (Oct 7).

The grant will be available from Oct 7 until Oct 6, 2027, and will cover two categories of businesses.

The first group includes companies that export to or operate in overseas markets and are affected by the tariffs, and the second group includes businesses with manufacturing facilities locally or overseas that support to reconfigure their operations, and are also impacted by the tariffs. 

For the first group, the grant will help them conduct free trade agreements, trade compliance assessments, legal and contractual advisory and supply chain optimisation and market diversification advisory.

The grant will also help offset third-party costs, such as logistics and inventory holding, for businesses that are looking to adapt their operations. 

The details come after the Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce (SERT) announced on July 10 that a grant will be rolled out to businesses to help them navigate the new tariff environment.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a visit to ForeFront Medical Technology‘s facility in Tuas on Tuesday (Oct 7), Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong said that the grant will not only provide relief to companies, but also help them "seize emerging opportunities" for relocation or expansion.  

Besides observing ForeFront’s facility where it produces and supplies medical devices, DPM Gan also held a closed-door meeting with the company’s executives where they gave feedback on plans to diversify into different markets and reconfigure their operations. 

DPM Gan, who is the chairman of SERT, noted that pharmaceutical firms like ForeFront will be affected by the sweeping new tariffs recently announced by US President Donald Trump on Sept 25. 

The measures, including a 100 percent duty on branded drugs imported into the US, was initially set to come into force on Oct 1.

Pharmaceuticals make up 13 per cent of Singapore's exports to the US, amounting to $4 billion.

"The implementation of pharmaceutical tariffs has been deferred, but I think at some point it will come into effect and negotiations are underway," said DPM Gan, who is also Minister for Trade and Industry.

"That’s why we set up the Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce… to be able to first look into the impact of tariffs, get feedback from companies and how it is affecting them and how we can lean forward to support them."

Responding to a question on whether there are any plans to renew the grant beyond the two-year period, he said that it will depend on the how the tariffs will further impact local businesses. 

"So once the tariffs are stabilised, we may need to look at other schemes and programmes to support them in a new environment,” he said. 

"Whether this transactional period will need to be extended is something that we will watch, and if need be we will extend it to make sure our companies and workers will always receive the necessary support for them."

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chingshijie@asiaone.com