It's a wake-up call': Dutch row with Chinese chipmaker that threatened global car industry

"The Dutch economy minister says he has no regrets about the tussle and would not change his actions even with the benefit of hindsight. There's a lot of interest in exactly what happened, he says. It's like an economic thriller. Detailing for the first time how the trade war unfolded, he recalls high-level exchanges with his German counterpart, the car industry and the US, as well as conversations with critical intelligence that he claims showed Nexperia was moving parts of its physical operations in Hamburg to China."

"The dispute started on 30 September when the Netherlands took supervisory control of Nexperia, alleging risks to European economic security. The decision to invoke a never-used-before cold war law had been taken two days earlier at the highest level of the Dutch government and was enacted after detailed legal checks. Karremans says it had nothing to do with a US move on 29 September to put Nexperia on a list of companies facing import controls."

"We were absolutely not pushed or pressurised or whatever by the Americans to take action on this, he says. What we heard from the Americans was they were going into [government] shutdown and they wanted to ensure Nexperia was on the list. If I had been in the same position, with the knowledge I know now, I would have done the same thing again."

The six-week standoff involved the Netherlands taking supervisory control of Chinese-owned Nexperia on 30 September, citing risks to European economic security. The decision invoked a rarely used cold war-era law after legal checks and highest-level government approval. Beijing responded by banning exports of Nexperia's mostly finished chips from China for four days, threatening carmakers and supply chains. The Dutch economy minister reported intelligence that parts of Nexperia’s Hamburg operations were being moved to China. The minister denied acting under US pressure and said he would make the same decision again given the same information.

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