The European Union’s substantive trade issues with China have already wiped out many renewable energy companies and now threaten the car industry. Photograph: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Volkswagen warned workers at its Wolfsburg plant this week that it would suspend production of the Golf from next Wednesday because it was running out of some essential microchips. Made by Nexperia, a Chinese-owned company based in the Netherlands, the chips are not the most advanced but they are responsible for keeping the brakes, lights, switches and wipers working.
The Dutch government took control of Nexperia, using for the first time a law introduced during the 1950s that allows the state to seize companies for national security reasons, removing its Chinese owner as chief executive.
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