In 1987, The New York Times published an open letter addressed to the American people. Its author, a New York real estate developer named Donald Trump, accused Japan of taking advantage of the United States and warned that America was being “laughed at” by its trading partners. Nearly 40 years later, now in his second presidential term, Trump has turned the same grievance towards China, accusing it of exploiting US generosity and undermining US power.That idea now drives Washington’s global strategy and increasingly shapes Europe’s behaviour. The Dutch government’s September 2025 seizure of Nexperia, a Chinese-owned chipmaker, offered the clearest sign yet of how far European governments have been drawn into the US-led confrontation with Beijing. Presented as a matter of national security, the move came after The Hague declared Nexperia’s Chinese ownership a threat to the Netherlands’ strategic interests.The company at the heart of this decision has its own complex history. Nexperia began as the standard products business unit of NXP Semiconductors. It was sold to a consortium of Chinese investors in 2017 and later became one of several European tech firms to join China’s expanding industrial portfolio. By the late 2010s, that portfolio already included Supercell, Sumo, Stunlock and Miniclip in gaming, Kuka in robotics, WorldFirst in currency exchange and the mobile advertising start-up MobPartner. Europe, which long welcomed Chinese invest …
