Netherlands Rejects US Request to Limit Chip Exports to China, Here's Why!

The Minister of Trade of the Netherlands, Liesje Schreinemacher. (photo: twitter @LSchreinemacher)

JAKARTA - The Netherlands' top trade official said the Netherlands would not accept new restrictions from the US on exporting chip-making technology to China, and was consulting with its allies in Europe and Asia.

Minister of Commerce Liesje Schreinemacher spoke Sunday 15 January on the Buitenhof television show ahead of a visit to the US by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Tuesday, January 17, when he is expected to discuss export policy with US President Joe Biden.

The Netherlands' biggest company is ASML Holding, a major supplier of semiconductor equipment makers.

The Dutch government has denied ASML permission to ship its state-of-the-art engines to China since 2019 following a pressure campaign by President Donald Trump's government, but ASML did sell 2 billion euros worth of old engines to China in 2021.

The US in October took steps aimed at crippling China's ability to make its own chips, and US trade officials said at the time they expected the Netherlands and Japan to implement similar rules soon.

ASML says that US rules can affect about 5% of its group sales.

Schreinemacher said the US had "justified concerns" about overreliance on Asia, where 80% of its advanced chips are made, and the threat that they could end up in military applications or be used against the Netherlands.

"We've been talking to the Americans for a long time, but they came up with new rules in October, so that changed the playing field," Schreinemacher said, as quoted by Reuters. "So you can't say they've put pressure on us for two years and now we have to sign a contract. And we're not going to do it."

He said the Netherlands was also talking with Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Germany and France, about the issue.

He underlined that Germany has an economic interest in being a major supplier of ASML and to "make sure that if they put certain technologies on the list of products that cannot be easily exported, other countries do too."