Dutch official presses US lawmakers over China chip export bill

By Toby Sterling and Alexandra Alper

WASHINGTON/AMSTERDAM, June 23 (Reuters) - A key Dutch minister met with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and lawmakers to express concerns over U.S. legislation that would force allies like the Netherlands to align with Washington's tougher export controls on China.

The Match Act, a bipartisan bill proposed in April, would make it harder for Chinese chipmakers to produce AI semiconductors, in part by setting up mechanisms to coerce allied countries to keep more equipment from China.

The U.S. has led a worldwide effort to try to block Beijing from obtaining the most advanced chips and chipmaking tools, fearing it could use them to supercharge its military.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday in Washington, Dutch Trade Minister Sjoerd Sjoerdsma said the U.S. and the Netherlands share common goals over preventing sensitive technology from ending up in dangerous hands.

However, "elements in that Act seem to suggest that the United States might take control over some of these decisions that affect our national security and the way our companies operate," he said.

If the excellent cooperative working relationship with Washington "becomes cooperation by force ... that is undesirable from our point of view," he added.

While the U.S. and Netherlands have agreed to restrict Dutch chip equipment maker ASML from sending China the advanced tools needed to make circuitry for AI chips, the countries disagree on whether ASML should be allowed to sell and service some less-advanced equipment to Chinese customers.

Sjoerdsma was also in Washington to sign a declaration formalizing the Netherlands' membership in the Pax Silica group of U.S.-allied countries coordinating AI supply chains.

Dutch participation in Pax Silica, led by Jacob Helberg, the U.S. undersecretary of state for economic affairs, is an important win for one of the pillars of U.S. tech diplomacy.

The Netherlands has a "worldwide obligation to ensure that whenever it comes to supply chains or the potential effect of disruptions on those supply chains, we have a common responsibility to try and prevent (them)," Sjoerdsma said.

Other governments that have joined Pax Silica include South Korea and Japan. Taiwan, home of chipmaker TSMC, has endorsed the group as a non-signatory. The European Union is expected to join at a future date.  

(Reporting by Toby Sterling and Alexandra Alper; Editing by Mark Potter, David Goodman and Christian Schmollinger)