About Sg Lee
SG Lee, CEO and founder of Toss, has commented on the potential economic impact of U.S. trade policy changes. In April 2025, he stated that the U.S. wants to replace Most Favored Nation status with reciprocal tariffs, which he said would harm small countries because they lack bargaining power. He noted that Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry had revised its 2025 growth forecast down to 0–2%, and he predicted slower growth and a possible recession in the medium term.
Lee has also discussed Toss's business strategy and IPO plans. In December 2022, he said the company was financially ready for an IPO but had not decided on a market or timing, describing the IPO as "Day One" rather than an endpoint. He noted that Toss had half of South Korea's population as registered users and a 20% market share of online payments, and that its buy now, pay later product would be distributed to that base. He also said Toss had acquired a stake in mobility operator VCNC (Tada), citing the high frequency of transactions in Seoul as a key factor.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Sg Lee's recent appearances.
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Transcript (4 segments)
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Sg Lee0:00
It goes beyond tariffs. For example, China has restricted rare earth exports. You don't want me to sell you goods? Okay, I will not buy your goods is one thing, but I will also restrict imports of Hollywood films. I won't watch Disney; I will watch Nura.
Some people say don't get excited, don't overblow the issue. We've weathered bigger storms before; we haven't failed. And it's true, we shouldn't get excited. We should take it in our own stride. But we do need to be concerned and to understand what is happening and what this means for us, because this time something important is different.
Singapore was part of a working global economic system. That was what helped us. What was it about that system which helped us? It gave countries big and small a level playing field. What is different this time is that the US doesn't want MFN. They want to dismantle the system. They want to replace MFN with reciprocal tariffs. Small countries will suffer because we have no bargaining power.
The impact on us is growth. This year we were hoping for 1 to 3% growth. MTI has revised the forecast; they've just put out a new forecast today. They've put it down to 0 to 2%. So we must expect slower growth this year, a recession somewhere down the road, maybe not this year but quite possibly at some point. And over the medium term, 5 to 10 years, this is going to be a less friendly world that we are in.
