Res, kako neumen moraš biti kot politik, da ne premisliš niti dveh korakov vnaprej? Ali pa da slepo slediš ameriškim ukazom. Kar je isto.

Evropo vodijo popolni tepci. Oziroma ameriški vazali. Kar je isto.

There you go, the concrete manifestation of why the Dutch government’s theft of Nexperia (pressured by the US) was such a profoundly dumb move: they’re literally bringing the entire European auto industry to a halt.

A reminder of what happened here:

• Back in June, the US told the Dutch that they would roll out a new anti-China extraterritorial legislation, whereby any subsidiary company of a Chinese company sanctioned by them would automatically be sanctioned too. They said that this rule would apply to Nexperia, a semiconductor manufacturer headquartered in Holland acquired in 2018 for $3.6 billion by Chinese company Wingtech Technology, which sanctioned by the US since December 2024. Nexperia is a major EU company with over 12,000 employees, supplying much of the EU auto industry with chips. The US told the Dutch that the only way Nexperia could escape the sanctions was to get rid the Chinese. I’m not making any of that up, it was all reported in the Financial Times: https://ft.com/content/db019842-01a9-4488-a6a0-45d0e102536b

• The Dutch prepared a legal strategy to get rid of the Chinese in Nexperia and, when the US finally did roll out their new rule in the very end of September (https://bis.gov/press-release/department-commerce-expands-entity-list-cover-affiliates-listed-entities), the Dutch almost simultaneously moved to seize Nexperia away from the Chinese. “Seizure” is the right term here: they they suspended the Chinese CEO from his position, appointed a non-Chinese director on the board with decisive voting rights and expropriated the company’s shares by placing them under management by a third-party trustee. All under a law called the “Goods Availability Act” (https://government.nl/latest/news/2025/10/12/minister-of-economic-affairs-invokes-goods-availability-act), which is an emergency wartime legislation designed for things like the requisition of bread or fuel during a foreign invasion.
• A couple of days later, China responded by putting export controls on Nexperia, banning the company from exporting products made in China, which I understand is the immense majority of their supply chain. In effect, this completely cripples the company.
• And now, sure enough, the entire European auto industry is saying that they will face “significant disruption if the interruption of Nexperia chips cannot be immediately resolved.”

And the big loser here, obviously, is again Europe. Not only it’s getting one of its flagship tech companies destroyed, but it’s also bringing down the entire European auto industry in the process. All for what? All to please “daddy” Trump.

As I wrote on day 1 (https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1977563638904021199), this new US extraterritorial legislation could have finally been an opportunity for the EU to assert its strategic autonomy by putting a line in the sand and issue a statement like this: 

“Nexperia is a European company subject to European law. It operates under Dutch jurisdiction, employs 14,000 people globally with major operations in Europe, and serves critical European industries. The United States does not get to unilaterally determine what a Dutch company can do simply because it dislikes the nationality of the shareholders. We ask that Wingtech provide binding commitments: R&D investment continues, European jobs are protected, and all operations comply with EU law. In exchange, we will shield Nexperia from extraterritorial US sanctions that violate our sovereignty.” 

If it had done that, Europe would have positioned itself as a genuine independent player, demonstrated that European property rights are real and that Europe is committed to protecting foreign assets, even from the U.S. 

But no, the message it sent instead is: “Sorry guys but if Washington decides it doesn’t like your nationality, we’ll seize your assets” And by doing so, not only they’re killing the assets in question, but the most important industry on the continent too.

Calling this “dumb” doesn’t even begin to describe it.

Vir: Arnaud Bertrand