This has been such a predictable year. What happened to the uncertainty and volatility that many people said was the new normal?

Instead, predictability was the word of 2019.

The trade war between the United States and China rumbled on but, by now, we knew not to get overly excited by the latest tweet from President Donald Trump or the stiffly worded response from Beijing.

Is it going to be US$200 billion (S$270 billion) worth of tariffs which the US will impose on China? Or US$360 billion?

Give or take a few billions, it doesn’t seem to matter as much as it used to.

The recent “phase one” agreement between the two countries merely prolonged the predictable stalemate.

You could say exactly the same about the US-North Korea nuclear issue.

The world used to be on edge every time Pyongyang test-fired its missiles or when Mr Trump declared that his nuclear button was bigger than Rocket Man’s.

Now, it all seems so, well, predictable.

… The writer is also senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University.