The Dutch government has suspended its intervention in chipmaker Nexperia in a bid to ease tensions with Beijing and prevent a potential global shutdown of car plants. The reversal of the decision to intervene comes after the Trump administration did not go ahead with plans that would add around 19,000 Chinese-owned businesses to its Entity List, a decision made as part of trade negotiations with China.
The swift back and forth of the Dutch government’s involvement in Nexperia is a good representation of the West being somewhat undercut and thrown into confusion by Donald Trump’s unpredictable approach.
This also provides an opportunity for China, given that even though there is a clear identification by Western countries of something that needs to be restricted in terms of access by another party, Trump’s approach means that it is difficult to enforce anything consistently.