US Warns Netherlands: Buy Our Chips, Not Their Boss
The Guardian notes the US warned the Netherlands that Nexperia, a Chinese-owned chipmaker, might be barred from exporting to the US if its Chinese CEO, Zhang Xuezheng, stayed put. This isn't about fair competition; it's about Washington dictating who can lead which companies, particularly when they touch critical tech sectors. Remember how 'free trade' used to be sacrosanct? Now, it looks
suspiciously like 'trade we control.' The US government’s 'concern' over a foreign company's CEO highlights a particular kind of economic warfare. One might wonder if similar 'concerns' are raised when figures with dubious human rights records or ties to other geopolitical rivals run companies in allied nations. Or is this selective outrage reserved for maintaining US technological supremacy
against perceived threats—a move that ironically mirrors the very 'state intervention' it often decries?