Exclusive | Casualties of trade war: Chinese in US denied licences to work with sensitive technologies

When Xiao Wang got a job offer last year from the US unit of ASML, a Dutch company in the semiconductor industry, he did not expect US-China trade tensions to end this new chapter in his career before it started.

Wang, a Chinese national living in the United States for eight years, was working for a mechanical equipment manufacturer in Connecticut at the time. He learned about the recruitment drive at ASML, which has a research unit in Connecticut, from social media posts, including some by Chinese employees of the company.

Hoping to gain more professional experience, Wang applied, and had a good interview. When ASML offered him the job in February, he accepted.

Before he could start, though, ASML, following the normal procedure, applied to the US Department of Commerce for a “deemed export” licence for Wang. The licence, which allows access to technology that is otherwise restricted, is required for a non-US national to take a job with national security sensitivity in the US. But after more than three months, Wang learned that his application had been rejected.

The denial, in June, came as the US and China had reached an impasse in trade talks and were edging closer to a tariff war. US concerns about China’s intellectual property thefts, cyberespionage, market barriers and lack of investment reciprocity were sticking points, and Washington is filled with rising fears about Chinese access to US high technology. Wang’s plans to advance his career in the semi-conductor industry were collateral damage.

“It shouldn’t have been a problem to obtain the licence. There are Chinese employees working there,” Wang told the South China Morning Post. “My friends and I talked about the US-China trade war, but I hadn’t expected that such a thing would happen to me.”