Dutch minister says can’t blindly follow US diktat on China chip export curbs

Foreign Trade Minister Liesje Schreinemacher said the government ‘will not copy the American measures one-to-one and we make our own assessment’

The comments complicate the Biden administration’s push for a multilateral agreement to keep advanced chip technologies away from Beijing

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The US is pushing for a multilateral agreement to keep advanced chip technologies away from China. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 10:20am, 19 Nov 2022

The United States shouldn’t expect the Netherlands to unquestionably adopt its approach to China export restrictions, a senior Dutch official warned, signalling a potential obstacle to the Biden administration’s trade fight.

“The Netherlands will not copy the American measures one-to-one,” Dutch Foreign Trade Minister Liesje Schreinemacher said in an interview with newspaper NRC published on Friday. “We make our own assessment – and we do this in consultation with partner countries such as Japan and the US.”

The comments marked the first time Dutch officials have publicly outlined their stance on the issue. The Biden administration is pushing for a multilateral agreement to impose restrictions on China, aiming to keep advanced chip technologies away from the country – and its military.

Schreinemacher’s statement highlighted the significant challenges the US is facing in persuading allies to join its campaign. While the Netherlands and Japan share many of the US’s security concerns, the two countries also see China as a major market that they would like to maintain access to.

The Netherlands are key to the struggle because the country’s ASML Holding NV is one of a handful of companies that dominate the market for semiconductor-manufacturing equipment. Its peers include Applied Materials Inc., Lam Research Corp. and KLA Corp. in the US, and Tokyo Electron Ltd. in Japan.

Without getting specific, Schreinemacher said that the Netherlands is likely to introduce certain export controls on China by itself. The Dutch government needs more time to decide on potential new rules, she said.