Who’s afraid of tariffs? Not Airwallex

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In focus

For this edition, we cover:

• Why Airwallex is unfazed in the face of tariffs
• The deepfakes battling candidates for voter attention

Hello reader,

Much of the talk around the tit-for-tat tariffs between the US, China, Canada, and various other countries has centered around how damaging they’ll be for businesses.

Whether you’re a coffee shop owner sourcing cups and supplies from China or a brand selling primarily to US consumers, the ripple effects are hard to avoid.

But software companies or intermediaries like Airwallex that enable other businesses tend to stand on relatively neutral ground. Lucy Liu, co-founder and president of the Singapore-based firm, reaffirmed this in a recent interview with Tech in Asia.

Since the fintech unicorn has diversified across more than 100 markets, it isn’t dependent on any single country or sector. Shifts in trade flows can simply redirect volume from one Airwallex market to another.

As merchants hike prices and goods and services get more expensive, this “actually might mean that our transaction volume might be higher,” Liu said.

Of course, it’s still too early to determine how these tariffs will affect markets, companies, and end-consumers – the backbone of Airwallex’s payments business.

Meanwhile, Singapore is in the thick of election season, and the ruling People’s Action Party is facing an unexpected challenger: deepfakes.

Melissa

The Big Story

Airwallex bets on growth, not caution, in the tariff era

Image credit: Timmy Loen

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