China exempts chips used by carmakers from export curbs
The moves mark an easing of trade tensions between Beijing and Washington after President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump agreed in October to reduce tariffs on each other and pause other measures for a year.
At the same time, China has also paused an export ban to the US of some materials that are crucial in the semiconductor industry and suspended port fees for American ships.
Exemptions have been granted to exports made by Chinese-owned Nexperia for civilian use, it said, which should help carmakers who had feared production in Europe would be hit.
China has lifted export controls on computer chips vital to car production, the country's commerce ministry said on Sunday.
In October, the Dutch government took control of Nexperia, which is based in the Netherlands but owned by Chinese company Wingtech, to try to safeguard the European supply of semiconductors for cars and other goods.
In response, China blocked exports of the firm's finished chips. However, it said earlier this month it would begin easing the ban as part of a trade deal struck between the US and China.
While Nexperia is based in the Netherlands, about 70% of its chips made in Europe are sent to China to be completed and re-exported to other countries.
When it took control of the company, the Dutch government said it had taken the decision due to "serious governance shortcomings" and to prevent the company's chips from becoming unavailable in an emergency.
But when China blocked exports of chips from Nexperia, there were worries that it could create global supply chain issues.
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