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

The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council announced on April 28, 2026 that China will extend zero-tariff treatment (preferential tariff rate of 0%) to all 53 African countries with which it maintains diplomatic relations, effective May 1, 2026 through April 30, 2028. The measure adds 20 African non-LDC nations to the existing zero-tariff scheme already covering 33 African LDCs since December 2024, making China the first major economy to grant full-coverage zero-tariff access to all African diplomatic partners. Coverage extends to all tariff lines except out-of-quota products (where only in-quota rates move to zero); eSwatini is excluded as it maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan rather than the PRC.

The US Department of Commerce, following affirmative final less-than-fair-value determinations and an affirmative material-injury finding by the US International Trade Commission, issued antidumping duty orders on silicon metal from Angola and Laos, effective 2026-04-16. Commerce set a 68.45% ad valorem weighted-average dumping margin for Angola (both named respondents and the all-others rate) and a 94.44% margin for Laos, both based entirely on adverse facts available after the respondents did not cooperate with the investigation. The orders stem from an April 2025 petition by Ferroglobe USA, Inc. and companion less-than-fair-value investigations initiated 2025-05-21 that also covered Australia and Norway, where preliminary and final LTFV determinations followed on a later schedule.

Angola's Ministry of Transport formalised a 30-year concession to Lobito Atlantic Railway (LAR — Trafigura 49.5% / Mota-Engil 49.5% / Vecturis S.A. 1%) for the operation, management and maintenance of the Lobito Corridor — comprising the 1,300 km Benguela Railway from the Port of Lobito to Luau (Angola-DRC border) and the Lobito port mineral terminal. The international tender was won on 4 November 2022; the concession contract was signed on 4 July 2023 at a ceremony attended by the Presidents of Angola, the DRC and Zambia. LAR commenced operations in January 2024. The concession is paired with the trilateral Lobito Corridor Transit Transport Facilitation Agency Agreement (LCTTFA), signed at Lobito Port on 27 January 2023 by the Transport ministers of Angola, the DRC and Zambia, which establishes the cross-border customs/transit framework for the corridor.

Angola's President João Lourenço signed Decreto Presidencial n.º 271/20 on 20 October 2020, replacing Order n.º 127/03 of 2003 and establishing the Regime Jurídico do Conteúdo Local do Sector dos Petróleos (RJCLSP). The decree divides petroleum-sector contracting into three regimes — exclusivity (reserved for Angolan nationals and companies), preference (Angolan-majority bidders take priority), and open competition with mandatory local-content scoring — covering all goods and services contracts entered into by concessionaires and their full subcontracting chains. The Ministério dos Recursos Minerais, Petróleo e Gás (MIREMPET) supervises compliance, with non-inclusion of mandatory local-content clauses penalised at USD 50,000–200,000 per infraction and escalating to contract cancellation for repeat offenders. The RJCLSP applies to all IOCs operating Angolan offshore blocks, including TotalEnergies (Block 17), ExxonMobil (Block 15), Chevron (Blocks 0, 14, 14K), BP (Block 31), Eni (Blocks 2, 14, 15/06), and Equinor, as well as their oilfield-services subcontractor chains.