Trade frictions can develop into wider mistrust: PM Lee

TRADE frictions between the United States and China can easily deteriorate into wider mistrust, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in an interview published on Monday.

Mr Lee was responding to veteran American journalist Tom Plate, who had asked if the US relationship with China is going to swing back and forth, as in the past, or whether a fundamental cleavage is starting to push both countries apart.

Mr Lee replied: "It does not have to go that way.

"But from the trade frictions, it can easily develop into wider mistrust. Because now, it is not just trade, exchange or currency exchange rates, but you (the US) are also…