Singapore's heavy dependence on international trade makes maintaining regional stability one of its foremost priorities. As a result, the nation is a firm supporter of both U.S. trade policy and the U.S. security role in Asia. However, the country also maintains close relations with China. That same year, Lee Kuan Yew, who was head of the People's Action Party (PAP), was elected prime minister. Government and Politics

The PAP has won every general election since the end of the colonial era in 1959, aided by a fragmented opposition, Singapore's economic success, and electoral procedures, such as group districting, which strongly favor the ruling party. In September 2015, following several gradual policy shifts including the imposition of some limits on foreign labor and improved benefits for the poor and elderly, the PAP won nearly 70% of the popular vote in nationwide polls, leaving it with 83 of Parliament's 89 seats. Lee Hsien Loong has served as Prime Minister since 2004. The U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (FTA) went into effect in January 2004—the United States' first bilateral FTA with an Asian country—and trade has increased significantly as a result. In 2015, Singapore was the 17 th -largest U.S. trading partner. Two-way goods trade amounted to $47 billion, with the United States exporting $28 billion to Singapore and importing $18 billion. Singapore is the largest U.S. trading partner in ASEAN, and the country remains a substantial destination for U.S. foreign direct investment (FDI). Singapore and the United States are among the 12 countries on both sides of the Pacific that are part of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the centerpiece of the Obama Administration's economic rebalance to Asia, which awaits ratification by each of its members. U.S.-Singapore Defense Cooperation

The 2005 "Strategic Framework Agreement" and a 2015 enhanced "Defense Cooperation Agreement" formalize the bilateral security and defense relationship between the United States and Singapore. The 2005 agreement was the first of its kind with a non-ally since the Cold War, and the two pacts build on the U.S. strategy of "places-not-bases" in the region, a concept that allows the U.S. military access to facilities on a rotational basis without bringing up sensitive sovereignty issues. Renewed U.S. engagement in the Asia Pacific under the Obama Administration has pleased Singapore and may have allowed it more diplomatic space to stand up to Beijing on key issues. Maintaining strong relations with both China and the United States is a keystone of Singapore's foreign policy.
A former trading and military outpost of the British Empire, the tiny Republic of Singapore has transformed itself into a modern Asian nation and a major player in the global economy, though it still substantially restricts political freedoms in the name of maintaining social stability and economic growth. Singapore's heavy dependence on international trade makes regional stability and the free flow of goods and services essential to its existence.
As a result, the island nation is a firm supporter of the U.S. security role in Asia, but it also maintains close relations with China. The Obama Administration's strategy of rebalancing U.S. foreign policy priorities to the Asia Pacific enhances Singapore's role as a key U.S. partner in the region. A formal strategic partnership agreement between the United States and Singapore outlines access to military facilities, cooperation in counterterrorism and counter-proliferation, joint military exercises, policy dialogues, and shared defense technology.
Singapore also supports U.S. international trade policy. Singapore and the United States are among the 12 countries on both sides of the Pacific involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which is the centerpiece of the Obama Administration's economic rebalance to Asia. In 2015, Singapore was the 17th-largest U.S. trading partner with $47 billion in total two-way goods trade, and the country remains a substantial destination for U.S. foreign direct investment. The U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (FTA) went into effect in January 2004, and since then trade has burgeoned between the two countries.
Singapore's People's Action Party (PAP) has won every general election since the end of the colonial era in 1959, aided by a fragmented opposition, Singapore's economic success, and electoral procedures that strongly favor the ruling party. Some point to changes in the political and social environment that may herald more political pluralism, including generational changes and an increasingly international outlook among Singaporeans. However, the PAP maintains a dominant political position. In September 2015, it won nearly 70% of the popular vote in nationwide Parliamentary elections that left it with 83 of the 89 seats in Parliament.
In March 2015, Lee Kuan Yew, who was Singapore's Prime Minister from 1959 to 1990, passed away. He was—and still is—considered the founder of modern Singapore, and he is credited with transforming Singapore from an English colony into one of the world's wealthiest and least corrupt countries. His son, Lee Hsien Loong, is Singapore's current Prime Minister.