Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2666 actions· ✨ 90 recent

On 1 February 2026 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled India's Union Budget 2026-27, with Customs Notification No. 02/2026-Customs (dated 1 Feb 2026, effective 2 Feb 2026) implementing the customs-duty package. The notification zero-rates basic customs duty (BCD) on (i) capital goods imported for domestic processing of critical minerals — crushing, beneficiation, refining, chemical-processing, separation/purification, and metallurgical/alloy-making equipment; (ii) capital goods for lithium-ion cell manufacturing for battery energy storage systems (BESS), extending the 2024-25 EV-cell exemption to stationary storage; and (iii) twelve additional critical minerals plus cobalt powder and lithium-ion battery scrap, on top of the 25 critical minerals already exempted in the FY2024-25 budget. In parallel, critical minerals (including monazite / rare-earth concentrate) are migrated from the customs-exemption notification mechanism into the First Schedule of the Customs Tariff Act at Nil BCD, effective 1 May 2026 — a tariffisation step that locks the rate into primary legislation rather than annually renewable notification. The Budget also commits to dedicated critical-mineral / rare-earth-magnet processing corridors in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Structurally this is the fiscal/tariff layer underneath the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM, Jan 2025) and the National Manufacturing Mission (Feb 2025): NCMM funds capex and overseas asset acquisition (₹34,300 cr), this Budget removes the import-duty drag on the equipment needed to actually run domestic processing lines. It complements the REPM scheme (Nov 2025) for sintered rare-earth magnets and Semicon Mission 2.0 (Feb 2026) on the demand side for refined critical minerals.

The European Commission published Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2754 on 29 October 2024 imposing definitive countervailing duties on imports of new battery electric vehicles (BEVs) originating in China, effective the day after publication. Following a 13-month investigation initiated by Commissioner Dombrovskis in October 2023, the rates layered on top of the existing 10% MFN duty are: BYD 17.0%, Geely 18.8%, SAIC 35.3%, Tesla 7.8% (individually-investigated), 17.0% for sampled cooperating producers, 20.7% for non-sampled cooperating producers, 35.3% for non-cooperating producers. Duties are payable for five years from entry into force unless reviewed earlier. The measure followed a member-state vote with Germany voting against and France/Italy in favour.

The Türkiye Ministry of Trade's Imports General Directorate published Communiqué No. 2024/33 in Resmî Gazete No. 32689 on 11 October 2024, imposing definitive ad valorem anti-dumping duties on hot-rolled flat steel products originating in the People's Republic of China, India, Japan and the Russian Federation. Duties range from 6.10% to 43.31% CIF and run for a five-year initial term from the date of publication, subject to interim or expiry review. The measure covers roughly 90 tariff lines under CN/HS chapters 7208, 7211, 7212, 7225 and 7226 — the principal hot-rolled flat-steel customs codes. China-origin producers face the widest dispersion (residual 43.31% on unsampled producers, named-producer rates 15–36%); Japan applies a flat 9% to all producers; India and Russia residuals sit at 9% with named- producer rates as low as 6.0–6.10%. Imports of "plate rolled in a plate mill" accompanied by a Producer's Certificate under Notice 2002/1 are exempt. The petition was filed by TÇÜD (Türkiye Çelik Üreticileri Derneği — Turkish Steel Producers' Association) on behalf of integrated mills Erdemir, İsdemir, Çolakoğlu, Habaş and Tosçelik, and addresses Chinese HRC diversion to the Türkiye market following US Section 232 steel tariffs and EU CBAM/safeguard tightening.