(Reuters) – A U.S. official acknowledged on Tuesday that an agreement exists with Japan and the Netherlands for those countries to impose new restrictions on exports of chip-making tools to China.
“We can’t talk about the agreement right now,” Commerce Department Deputy Secretary Don Graves said. “But you can talk to our friends in Japan and the Netherlands, certainly.”
In October, the United States imposed broad export restrictions on chip manufacturing equipment to China, seeking to cripple the capacity of China’s chip industry and hit the country’s military capabilities.
The U.S. Commerce Department said it will continue to coordinate export controls with allies.
“We recognize that multilateral controls are more effective than unilateral ones, and foreign involvement in these controls is a priority,” the department said.
Officials from the Netherlands and Japan were in Washington discussing a wide range of issues in talks led by White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Friday. The Commerce Department said it will continue to coordinate export controls with allies.
When asked Friday if a semiconductor deal was discussed, U.S. President Joe Biden said, “Yes, we talked about a lot of things, but a lot of them are private.”