On US visit, Dutch politician talks importance of ASML, China trade

On a visit to Washington, the Netherlands’ economy minister on Monday underlined the importance of China as a trading partner and repeated that Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML must be allowed to “do business as freely as possible”.

Dirk Beljaarts underlined that his meeting with US Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves was to promote bilateral trade, not to negotiate over export restrictions, which do not fall under his purview.

Beljaarts’ visit comes ahead of an expected expansion of US rules restricting semiconductor exports to certain computer chip plants in China.

ASML is the largest supplier of equipment to computer chip makers. Earlier this month, the Netherlands government began requiring export licenses for more of ASML’s product range to China, following pressure from the US.

While the US is an important Dutch ally and trading partner, Taiwan, China and South Korea are ASML’s biggest markets.