Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2665 actions· ✨ 90 recent

Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Japan's state export-credit and outbound-investment finance institution, signed a loan agreement on 2025-10-28 providing up to USD 85.75 million to ALBRAS - Alumínio Brasileiro S.A., an aluminum smelter in Pará, Brazil, co-financed with MUFG Bank (insured by Nippon Export and Investment Insurance, NEXI). The facility funds capital investment to address aging equipment and sustain ALBRAS's production capacity. JBIC explicitly frames the loan as securing a long-term stable supply of low-carbon primary aluminum for Japan, which relies entirely on imports for the metal.

President Trump signed Executive Order 14324, "Suspending Duty-Free De Minimis Treatment for All Countries," on 30 July 2025 (published in the Federal Register on 5 August 2025 as FR doc 2025-14897, 90 FR 37775). The order eliminated the Section 321(a)(2)(C) administrative exemption that had allowed shipments valued at $800 or less to enter the United States duty-free, applying the suspension to all countries of origin rather than the China/Hong Kong-only carve-out imposed earlier in 2025. DHS/CBP published a Notice of Implementation on 2 September 2025 (FR doc 2025-16802) modifying the Harmonized Tariff Schedule so that covered low-value goods must be entered via formal or informal ACE entry types and pay applicable duties; goods shipped through the international postal network were instead made subject to a new flat ad valorem or specific per-item duty rate set by HTSUS annex. The suspension took effect for entries on or after 12:01 a.m. EDT on 29 August 2025. A DHS/CBP rule published 24 June 2026 (FR doc 2026-12670) converted the non-postal suspension from time-limited to indefinite and closed the remaining international-postal-network exemption to formal/ informal entry procedures as well.

On 25 June 2025 the European Commission adopted COM(2025) 335 final, a proposed Regulation establishing a single market for space activities — the first EU-level framework harmonising the authorisation, registration and supervision of space activities across Member States, replacing 13 fragmented national regimes. The Act rests on three pillars: safety (mandatory tracking of space objects, space- debris mitigation rules, an EU registry of space objects), resilience (cybersecurity requirements scaled to company size and risk profile) and sustainability (environmental impact assessment and active debris-removal R&D). It applies to both EU and non-EU operators providing space services in Europe, giving it extraterritorial reach over SpaceX/Starlink, Amazon Kuiper, OneWeb, Chinese SatNet/G60 and ISRO. The proposal is being negotiated under the ordinary legislative procedure; the Competitiveness Council of 9 December 2025 broadly endorsed its objectives, and the public consultation closed on 7 November 2025.

Regulation (EU) 2025/40, published in the Official Journal on 22 January 2025 and entering into force on 11 February 2025, replaces the 1994 Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive 94/62/EC with a directly-applicable Regulation. It mandates binding recycled-content targets for plastic packaging (by polymer and format, reaching 30–65% by 2030 with higher targets by 2040), minimum reusable-packaging shares for beverages and transport, recyclability standards for all packaging placed on the EU market from 2030, deposit-return-scheme obligations for beverage containers from 2029, and bans on specified single-use plastic packaging formats. General application begins 12 August 2026, with staggered compliance windows extending to 2030 and beyond, affecting all non-EU exporters shipping consumer goods, beverages, or e-commerce fulfilment into the EU single market.

The Indiana Economic Development Corporation approved up to USD 18.3 million in EDGE (Economic Development for a Growing Economy) payroll-based tax credits for Amazon Data Services Inc., tied to Amazon Web Services' USD 11 billion data center campus at the Indiana Enterprise Center in New Carlisle, St. Joseph County. The credit was one component of a larger state incentive package announced by Governor Eric Holcomb on 2024-04-25, which also included up to USD 55 million in Hoosier Business Investment tax credits, up to USD 20 million in redevelopment tax credits, up to USD 5 million in training grants, a USD 7 million road-infrastructure contribution, and a 50-year state sales-tax exemption on data center equipment. IEDC records cite an incentive-agreement effective date of 2023-09-01. The project committed to creating at least 1,000 new jobs.

The Indiana Economic Development Corporation approved up to USD 55 million in Hoosier Business Investment (HBI) tax credits for Amazon Data Services Inc., tied to Amazon Web Services' USD 11 billion data center campus at the Indiana Enterprise Center in New Carlisle, St. Joseph County. This is the largest single instrument in the five-part state incentive package Governor Eric Holcomb announced on 2024-04-25, which also included up to USD 18.3 million in EDGE payroll tax credits, up to USD 20 million in redevelopment tax credits, up to USD 5 million in training grants, a USD 7 million road-infrastructure contribution, and a 50-year state sales-tax exemption on data center equipment. IEDC describes all incentives as performance-based, claimable only once the underlying investment and job-creation commitments are verified. IEDC records cite an incentive-agreement effective date of 2023-09-01.

The Indiana Economic Development Corporation approved up to USD 20 million in redevelopment tax credits for Amazon Data Services Inc., tied to Amazon Web Services' USD 11 billion data center campus at the Indiana Enterprise Center in New Carlisle, St. Joseph County. This is the third of five distinct incentive instruments in the state package Governor Eric Holcomb announced on 2024-04-25, alongside up to USD 18.3 million in EDGE payroll tax credits, up to USD 55 million in Hoosier Business Investment tax credits, up to USD 5 million in training grants, a USD 7 million road-infrastructure contribution, and a 50-year state sales-tax exemption on data center equipment. IEDC records cite an incentive-agreement effective date of 2023-09-01.

Government Decree 53/2022/ND-CP, signed 15 August 2022 and effective 1 October 2022, implements Article 26 of Vietnam's 2018 Law on Cybersecurity. It mandates in-country storage of three categories of data — personal data of users in Vietnam, user-generated data, and user-relationship data — for both domestic and foreign cyberspace- service providers, with a minimum 24-month retention period. Foreign enterprises providing telecoms, data storage, domain names, e-commerce, online payments, social networks, online video games, or messaging services to users in Vietnam must establish a Vietnamese branch or representative office within 12 months of a Minister of Public Security written request. The decree closes a four-year implementation gap on the 2018 Cybersecurity Law and is the principal Vietnamese digital-trade barrier alongside Decree 13/2023/ND-CP (Personal Data Protection).