Export controls may have been the economic weapon of choice in 2025, but the Dutch minister at the centre of the Nexperia crisis has admitted he was blindsided by Beijing when it blocked the company’s chips from leaving China.
His concession raises fresh questions over how much planning went into the decision to reach for a Cold War-era law to intervene in the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker in September, a move that triggered a supply chain shock in the global automotive…
