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Structured register of government actions in the geoeconomic space — export controls, tariffs, sanctions, FDI screening, subsidies, industrial-policy laws — cross-referenced into the country, minerals, and ETF surface. Charter: docs/IPTM_CHARTER.md.
Severity 1-5 is the qualitative impact rating (1=minor, 5=structural). The bilateral-trade-grounded quant scorer is the next IPTM milestone. RBI (Register Breadth Index) is a complementary structural-breadth indicator from scripts/py/iptm/breadth.py; divergence between RBI and severity is itself informative (high-sev / low-RBI = strategic chokepoint; low-sev / high-RBI = broad but shallow). Every action has at least one primary source URL. Verify-or-don't-file. See also themes, timeline, graph, sankey, map, country exposure, sector exposure, material exposure (+ graph), weekly briefs, portfolio scan, escalation monitor, trans-shipment hubs. Internal triage tools (RSS-poller candidate feed, source-feed health) live under /admin/candidates + /admin/sources. Subscribe via Atom feed (accepts ?country=CN, ?material=lithium, ?issuer=BIS, ?type=export_control, ?etf=SOXX, ?company=NVDA, ?minSeverity=4, ?year=2026, ?q=…) or pull /api/iptm/actions.
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2101 of 24 September 2026 imposes a definitive anti-dumping duty, and definitively collects the provisional duty, on imports of pea protein originating in the People's Republic of China. The product is pea protein containing more than 65% protein on a dry-weight basis, from any pea type (yellow or green field peas), solid or liquid, textured or not. Press reports put the definitive duties at 40.5%-67.1% by exporting producer, for five years, following provisional duties applied since 29 April 2026 under Regulation (EU) 2026/916.
On 18 September 2026 the European Commission adopted Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2133, imposing a provisional safeguard measure on imports of certain grain-oriented flat-rolled products of silicon-electrical steel (GOES) and steel laminations and cores (SLCs) — CN codes 7225 11 00, 7226 11 00 and 8504 90 13 — following a global safeguard investigation opened 27 March 2026. GOES is the core input for power-transformer and grid-equipment cores; the Commission's own figures show China supplied 53% of 2025 EU imports, Japan 20%, Türkiye 13% and Korea/UAE a combined 4%. Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Kenya and Ukraine are excluded from the provisional measure. The regulation does not disclose the tariff-rate-quota volume or out-of-quota duty rate in the published notice; the Commission press page frames the measure as "tariff-rate quotas coupled with price thresholds."
On 14 September 2026 the European Commission adopted a Delegated Regulation (reference C(2026)6323) amending Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2021/821 to add newly-controlled dual-use items implementing the 2025 multilateral cycle of the Wassenaar Arrangement, MTCR, Australia Group, and NSG. New entries include semiconductor fabrication equipment (atomic layer deposition, EUV inspection systems, wafer cleaning), advanced computing ICs with digital processing units, ceramic matrix composites, additive-manufacturing systems for energetic materials, and chemical vapor deposition equipment for silicon carbide fibre production. The regulation is not yet in force: it now enters the standard two-month European Parliament/Council non-objection scrutiny period before publication in the Official Journal.
On 1 September 2026 the European Commission published a notice of initiation of a partial interim review of the anti-dumping measures in force since 2022 on imports of silicon metal originating in China, following a request lodged 8 July 2026 by Euroalliages on behalf of the Union silicon industry. Euroalliages argues that Chinese production overcapacity has grown "massive" and export prices have fallen further since the original investigation, such that the current duties no longer offset the dumping margin. The review investigation period runs from July 2025 to June 2026; the existing duties remain in force and uncollected/undetermined pending the outcome.
The European Commission initiated an investigation under Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1925 of 6 August 2026 into possible circumvention, via Kosovo, Moldova, North Macedonia and Serbia, of the anti-dumping duties imposed by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/357 on open mesh fabrics of glass fibres originating in China. A corrigendum correcting certain language versions of the initiating regulation was published 6 September 2026. The Commission suspects Chinese producers are routing product through Balkan and Moldovan assemblers to avoid duties currently ranging 48.4%–62.9% ad valorem on Chinese-origin open mesh fabrics.
The European Commission adopted Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1373 on June 22, 2026, imposing definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of 1,4-butanediol (BDO) originating from China, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. The regulation was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on June 24, 2026. BDO is a chemical intermediate used in engineering plastics (polyurethane, PBT), solvents, and battery electrolyte solvents (gamma-butyrolactone derivative). China is the dominant global BDO producer and the primary source of injurious dumped imports into the EU. The regulation also definitively collects provisional duties previously imposed under Regulation (EU) 2026/270.
On 23 April 2026, the Council of the European Union adopted the 20th package of restrictive measures against Russia, anchored by Council Regulation (EU) 2026/506 amending Regulation 833/2014 (sectoral sanctions) and Council Regulation (EU) 2026/511 amending Regulation 269/2014 (asset-freeze listings — 120 additional individuals and entities, the largest single tranche in two years). The package operationalises and extends the crypto-sanctions architecture introduced in the 19th package and constructs the legal scaffolding for a future full prohibition on maritime services to vessels carrying Russian crude/petroleum products. Headline measures: (i) full sectoral prohibition on transactions with crypto-asset service providers and exchange platforms established in Russia or Belarus, plus designation of the rouble-backed stablecoin RUBx and the digital rouble (CBDC) on Annex LIII — effective 24 May 2026, with EU support for the digital rouble's development banned outright; (ii) 36 new energy-sector listings spanning upstream extraction, refining and transportation; (iii) prohibition on providing technical, financial, brokering and insurance services to Russia-flagged, Russian-certified or Russian-managed LNG tankers and icebreakers effective 25 April 2026, extending to foreign-flagged vessels operating in Russian interests by January 2027 and culminating in a categorical ban on LNG terminal services to Russian-controlled entities on 1 January 2027; (iv) full transaction ban on 20 Russian banks plus four third-country banks listed for SPFS connectivity / sanctions circumvention; (v) 46 newly listed shadow-fleet vessels and new tanker sale-due-diligence obligations on EU shipping operators; (vi) 58 designations of companies and associated individuals in the Russian military-industrial complex including drone developers/manufacturers; (vii) further Annex IV third-country circumvention enabler listings (China, Hong Kong, Turkey, UAE); (viii) parallel measures against Belarus. Entry into force on 24 April 2026 (day following publication in OJ L_202600506), except for measures with explicit deferred application dates.
On 21 April 2026 the European Commission issued a conditional clearance under the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR, Regulation 2022/2560), requiring the exclusion of CRRC (China's largest rolling-stock manufacturer) from the Lisbon Metro Violet Line procurement — the first-ever FSR procurement remedy ordering a Chinese supplier exclusion from a specific EU public contract. The Commission found that CRRC received foreign subsidies enabling it to submit an unduly advantageous tender, and as a condition of clearance mandated CRRC's removal from the tender. CRRC was replaced by PESA (Polish rail manufacturer) as the selected bidder. Unlike the 2024 Bulgaria/CRRC case (FSP.100147) where CRRC voluntarily withdrew before a formal decision, the Lisbon case produced the first binding FSR exclusion remedy, establishing mandatory supplier-removal as an available enforcement outcome in EU public procurement.
On 13 April 2026 the Council of the EU and the European Parliament reached a provisional political agreement, in trilogue with the Commission, on the new EU steel safeguard regulation that will replace the existing WTO-safeguard-based measure (Regulation (EU) 2019/159, last tightened by Implementing Regulation 2025/612) expiring on 30 June 2026. The agreement adopts the core architecture of the Commission's October 2025 proposal (procedure 2025/0726(COD)): an overall duty-free tariff-rate quota of approximately 18.3 million tonnes per year — a roughly 47% reduction versus the 2024 safeguard quotas — covering 30 product categories, with the out-of-quota customs duty raised from 25% to 50%. The deal also introduces a mandatory "country of melt and pour" declaratory requirement on steel imports and obliges the Commission to assess, within two years, whether the country of melt-and-pour should become the basis for country-specific TRQ allocations (closing transhipment loopholes that have allowed Chinese-melted steel to enter via third-country processors). The co-legislators added a reinforced and time-bound review mechanism: a first Commission review of product scope within six months of entry into force, with subsequent biennial scope reviews thereafter. Statutorily, this is a NEW instrument — a regulation adopted under the ordinary legislative procedure, not an implementing act under the WTO Agreement on Safeguards / Regulation (EU) 2015/478 — so it is filed as a new action with a `responds_to` link to the predecessor regime. Formal adoption by Council and EP plenary is expected in May 2026 ahead of the 1 July 2026 application date.
The European Commission adopted Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/734 of 26 March 2026, imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of synthetic continuous filament yarns of aliphatic polyamides (nylon yarn) originating in China, following an investigation initiated in July 2025. The duty entered into force on 28 March 2026, with a residual rate of 90.1% of the net free-at-Union-frontier price for non-cooperating exporters and individual company rates ranging from 57.7% to 67.1% for cooperating producers. The measure covers CN codes 5402 31 00, 5402 45 00, 5402 51 00 and 5402 61 00, and importers must post security deposits equal to the provisional duty to release goods for free circulation in the EU pending a definitive determination.
The European Commission on 4 March 2026 adopted COM(2026) 100 final, the proposed Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA), the central horizontal industrial- policy instrument of the 2024-29 Commission term. The proposal targets raising EU manufacturing's share of GDP from 14.3% (2024) to at least 20% by 2035 via three pillars: (i) demand-side "Made in EU" and low-carbon public-procurement preferences for strategic sectors; (ii) FDI conditionality on investments above €100 million from countries with >40% global manufacturing share in batteries, EVs, solar PV or critical raw materials; (iii) accelerated permitting through a one-stop-shop and member-state-designated Industrial Acceleration Areas. The IAA is a proposal — co-decision adoption is expected mid-to-late 2027.
On 3 February 2026 the European Commission opened an in-depth Phase II investigation under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) — the second FSR ex officio case and the first targeting the renewable-energy wind-OEM sector — into whether Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co., Ltd. and its EU affiliates received Chinese foreign subsidies (grants, preferential tax treatment, and state-bank preferential financing) that distort competition for wind-turbine supply and services in the EU internal market. The case (FS.100143) follows the April 2024 preliminary-review opening and subjects Goldwind to an 18-month Phase II investigation with potential redressive-measures decision. The action structurally extends the FSR enforcement perimeter from security equipment (Nuctech, FS.100068) into the green-transition energy-equipment supply chain.
The European Commission initiated an anti-dumping investigation on 19 December 2025 (Case AD747, notice published in OJ C/2025/6744) into imports of sodium benzoate (CN code ex 2916 31 00, CUS 0023120-9, CAS 532-32-1) originating in China, following a complaint from Lanxess Chemical B.V. filed on 10 November 2025. The Commission first made imports subject to customs registration via Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/366 of 19 February 2026. On 27 July 2026 the Commission adopted Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1854, published 28 July 2026, imposing provisional antidumping duties ranging from 57.6% to 116.4% by exporter. The measure remains provisional pending the investigation's final outcome.
The European Commission initiated an anti-dumping investigation on 19 December 2025 (Case AD748, notice published in OJ C/2025/6741) into imports of benzyl alcohol (CN code 2906 21 00, CAS 100-51-6) originating in China, following a complaint from EU producers LANXESS Deutschland GmbH, LANXESS Chemical B.V. and Vynova Advanced Organics Maastricht B.V. The Commission first made imports subject to customs registration via Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/362 of 17 February 2026, preserving the option to apply duties retroactively. On 28-29 July 2026 the Commission published a provisional antidumping duty on Chinese benzyl alcohol, reported by trade press to be in the 52.6%-71.2% range pending independent confirmation of the exact implementing regulation and per-exporter rates. The measure remains provisional pending the investigation's final outcome, expected within the statutory deadline.
On 10 December 2025 the European Commission opened an in-depth investigation under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) — its first ex officio Phase II investigation — into whether Chinese state-controlled security-scanner producer Nuctech received foreign subsidies enabling it to offer prices and conditions that EU competitors could not match across airport, port, and border-crossing markets. Nuctech Technology, controlled by Tsinghua Tongfang (PRC state-linked), operates EU subsidiaries in Poland and the Netherlands (Nuctech Warsaw and Nuctech Netherlands), supplying threat-detection scanners to roughly 80% of EU airports and 70% of EU sea and land border crossings. The case (FS.100068) followed April 2024 unannounced FSR dawn raids at Nuctech's Polish and Dutch premises — one of the first uses of FSR inspection powers — and sets a precedent for ex officio scrutiny of state-subsidised foreign incumbents beyond the M&A and public-procurement tracks where FSR had previously operated.
On 3 December 2025 the European Commission adopted the RESourceEU Action Plan (COM(2025) 945 final), a horizontal critical-raw-materials supply-security instrument complementing the 2023 Critical Raw Materials Act. The plan mobilises €3 billion in EU funds within twelve months for priority CRM projects, creates a European Critical Raw Materials Centre operational from 2026 (modelled on Japan's JOGMEC) acting as portfolio manager for diversified supply chains, joint purchasing and stockpiling, and activates the Internal Market Emergency and Resilience Act (IMERA) "vigilance" and "emergency" modes from May 2026 with mandatory information requests, priority deliveries and coordinated stockpile distribution. A targeted CRMA amendment expands product labelling for permanent-magnet recycling and adds export controls on permanent-magnet and aluminium scrap. Targets a 30-50% reduction by 2029 in single-country dependency for battery, rare-earth and defence raw-material value chains.
On 23 October 2025, the Council of the European Union adopted the 19th package of restrictive measures against Russia, anchored by Council Regulation (EU) 2025/2033 amending Regulation 833/2014 (sectoral sanctions), Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2035 amending Regulation 269/2014 (asset-freeze listings — 22 individuals + 42 entities, total 69 listings), and Council Regulation (EU) 2025/2041 (parallel Belarus measures). The package closes the Russian-LNG import loophole left open by the 18th package and establishes the architectural template for crypto-asset sanctions. Headline measures: (i) full prohibition on imports of Russian-origin LNG into the EU — short-term contracts banned six months from entry into force (effective 25 April 2026), long-term contracts (> 1 year, executed before 17 June 2025) phased out by 1 January 2027; (ii) full transaction ban on Rosneft and Gazprom Neft (tightening prior partial measures); (iii) five additional Russian banks added to Annex XIV transaction ban (Alfa-Bank, MTS Bank among them; effective 12 November 2025); (iv) full transaction bans on the Mir card payment system and the Faster Payments System (SBP), effective 25 January 2026; (v) first-ever EU sanctions on a stablecoin — the rouble-backed A7A5 (issuer + developer designated) — and a Paraguay-based cryptocurrency exchange used as a circumvention rail; (vi) prohibition on EU operators contracting with 11 listed Russian Special Economic Zones (Annex LII), with mandatory divestment from Alabuga (Tatarstan) and Technopolis Moscow effective 25 January 2026 — no five-year wind-down available; (vii) 45 entities added to Annex IV military end-user list (28 Russian + 17 third-country: 12 Chinese/Hong Kong, 3 Indian, 2 Thai); (viii) new export restrictions on electronic components, microelectronics, acyclic hydrocarbons, pneumatic rubber tires and propellant chemicals (~EUR 155 m of EU 2024 exports); (ix) prohibition on supply of AI, HPC, and quantum-computing services to Russian persons (effective 25 November 2025); (x) tourism-services ban (1 January 2026 wind-down); (xi) 117 additional shadow-fleet vessels listed (cumulative 557, exceeding the 18th package's 444); (xii) four Belarus + Kazakhstan banks listed for SPFS use (effective 2 December 2025); (xiii) binding ownership/control definitions added to Reg. 269/2014 (50 % proprietary-rights threshold + eight-criterion control test). Entry into force on 24 October 2025 (day following publication in OJ L_202502033), except for measures with explicit deferred application dates.
The European Commission adopted Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1901 on 22 September 2025, imposing definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of glyoxylic acid (CAS 298-12-4, purity ≥95%, CN code ex 2918 30 00, TARIC 2918300013) originating in China for five years. Duty rates are differentiated by exporter: Hubei Hongyuan 29.2%, Xinjiang Guolin 130.0%, other cooperating producers 64.0%, and all non-cooperating Chinese imports 210.5%. The regulation definitively collects provisional duties previously imposed under Regulation (EU) 2025/591 (up to 280.3% provisional rates) from 24 March 2025.
The European Commission adopted Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1890 on 18 September 2025, imposing a definitive five-year anti-dumping duty on imports of threaded tube or pipe cast fittings of malleable cast iron and spheroidal graphite cast iron (CN code ex 7307 19 10) originating in China and Thailand, following an expiry review under Article 11(2) of the Basic AD Regulation (EU) 2016/1036. Dumping margins are 65% for China and 70% for Thailand; for China, normal value was constructed under Article 2(6a) using Thailand as a representative country due to significant market distortions. The measure extends and renews the original anti-dumping duty in force since 2013, confirming continued risk of injury recurrence to EU producers of plumbing and HVAC fittings.
The European Commission adopted Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1045 of 12 May 2026, imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of certain alkyl phosphonic acids and their sodium salts originating in the People's Republic of China — specifically 2-phosphonobutane-1,2,4- tricarboxylic acid (PBTC) and its sodium salt (Tetrasodium hydrogen 2-phosphonatobutane-1,2,4- tricarboxylate, PBTC-Na4), in solid form or aqueous solution, falling under CN code 2931 49 80. Provisional duties range from 182.9% to 219.4% depending on the exporting producer. The measure entered into force on 14 May 2026, the day after publication in the Official Journal, and follows an investigation initiated on 18 September 2025 pursuant to a complaint lodged on 7 August 2025 by LANXESS Deutschland GmbH. PBTC is a scale-inhibitor/chelating agent used in industrial water treatment, oilfield services and detergent formulation.
The European Commission adopted Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1063 of 12 May 2026, imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of PET spunbond originating in the People's Republic of China — non-woven needle-punched sheets of polyester filaments, whether or not reinforced by glass fibres, weighing more than 70 g/m2, thickness 0.5-1.8 mm, impregnated with one or more binders, falling under CN codes ex 5603 13 90, 5603 14 20 and ex 5603 14 80. Provisional duties range from 45.6% to 50.0% depending on the exporting producer, entering into force on 14 May 2026 (the day after Official Journal publication) and applying until 13 November 2026, by which date the Commission must decide on definitive measures. The measure follows an investigation initiated on 15 September 2025 (OJ C/2025/5010) pursuant to a complaint lodged on 8 August 2025 by Freudenberg Performance Materials and Johns Manville, alleging that dumped Chinese imports — whose EU market share rose from roughly 0-5% to 15-20% between 2021 and 2024 — caused material injury to Union producers.
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2003, adopted by the European Commission on 8 September 2025, published in the Official Journal on 14 November 2025 and entering into force on 15 November 2025, amends Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2021/821 to implement the 2024 multilateral decisions of the Wassenaar Arrangement, MTCR, Australia Group, and NSG. The most extensive EU semiconductor-equipment additions since the 2021 framework took effect: ALD, epitaxial deposition, lithography, EUV pellicles/masks/reticles, SEM, and etching equipment, plus tighter controls on quantum computers, advanced FPGAs/ICs for AI training, additive-manufacturing, and cryogenic/superconducting components. The regulation is the EU-side update layer of the Western dual-use export control architecture, structurally aligned with the US BIS advanced- computing/SME packages and the Netherlands DUV-licensing regime.
On 18 July 2025, the Council of the European Union adopted the 18th package of restrictive measures against Russia, anchored by Council Regulation (EU) 2025/1494 amending Regulation 833/2014 (sectoral measures), Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1476 implementing Regulation 269/2014 (asset-freeze listings), Council Decision (CFSP) 2025/1495 (vessel listings), and Council Regulation (EU) 2025/1472 (parallel Belarus measures). The package is the largest energy-sector escalation since 2022 and pivots from new-perimeter creation toward enforcement and circumvention closure. Headline measures: (i) the Russian-crude price cap is lowered from USD 60 to USD 47.6 per barrel with a new automatic dynamic mechanism re-indexing the cap to global oil prices every six months at a 15 % discount to the 22-week trailing average (effective 3 Sep 2025, with a transitional exemption to 18 Oct 2025 for pre-20 Jul 2025 contracts compliant with the prior cap); (ii) full transaction ban extended to 22 additional Russian banks, bringing the total cut off from the EU financial system to 45; transaction ban extended to third-country financial institutions and crypto-asset service providers facilitating circumvention; (iii) full transaction ban on Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines; (iv) import ban on refined oil products derived from Russian crude processed in third countries; (v) 105 additional vessels added to the shadow-fleet port-access ban (cumulative total 444); (vi) 26 new entities added to Annex IV military end-user list (15 Russian + 11 from China/Hong Kong/Turkey); (vii) Council Implementing Regulation 2025/1476 lists 14 individuals + 41 entities under asset-freeze, including a major Indian refinery (Nayara Energy, part-owned by Rosneft), three Chinese suppliers of battlefield goods, shadow-fleet operators, and entities involved in the deportation of Ukrainian children; (viii) parallel Belarus complementary measures via Regulation 2025/1472. Wind-down periods vary: 90 days for oil-price-cap contracts; banking-software wind-down to 30 Sep 2025; trade-goods wind-downs Oct 2025–Jan 2026 by category. Entry into force on 19 July 2025 (day following publication in the Official Journal), except for measures with explicit deferred application dates.
The European Commission adopted Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1197 on 19 June 2025, published in the Official Journal on 20 June 2025 and applicable from 30 June 2025. It imposes the EU's first-ever International Procurement Instrument (IPI) measure, excluding tenders submitted by economic operators originating in China from EU public procurement contracts for medical devices (CPV codes 33100000-1 to 33199000-1) valued at EUR 5,000,000 or more net of VAT. Even where a non-Chinese bidder wins, no more than 50% of the contract's value may be sourced from China-origin medical devices (IPI Article 8(1)). Contracting authorities may waive the measure only where solely Chinese bidders meet requirements or for overriding public-interest reasons (IPI Article 9(1)).
The European Commission initiated an anti-dumping investigation on 21 May 2025 (Notice C/2025/2778) into imports of new pneumatic rubber tyres for passenger cars and light lorries (CN codes 4011 10 00 and 4011 20 10) originating in China, following a complaint lodged by the Coalition Against Unfair Tyre Imports representing EU producers. Provisional anti-dumping measures may be imposed within eight months (by approximately January 2026); the investigation must conclude within 14 months (by approximately July 2026). The EU passenger-car tyre import market from China is estimated at over €2 billion annually and is dominated by Chinese brands including Triangle, Linglong, Sailun, and ZC Rubber.
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/612 of 24 March 2025 amends the EU steel safeguard regime first imposed by Regulation (EU) 2019/159, materially tightening the tariff-rate quota (TRQ) system that governs imports across 26 product categories of finished and semi-finished steel. The Commission cuts the annual liberalisation rate (the volume by which TRQs grow each year) from 1% to 0.1%, effectively freezing the in-quota volumes available to third-country exporters at near-current levels through the safeguard's expiry on 30 June 2026. The regulation also repeals the carry-over mechanism that previously allowed unused quarterly TRQ volumes to roll into the next quarter for product categories under significant import pressure, and eliminates the ability of exporting countries to access the residual (other-country) quota in the final quarter of each safeguard year for those categories. The latter change forecloses the route by which Chinese, Indian, Turkish, Korean and Vietnamese mills had increasingly back-filled into unused Russian and Belarusian quota allocations after the 2022 sanctions disruption. Most adjustments enter into force on 1 April 2025; the slower liberalisation pace and the carry-over removal in the most pressured categories take effect 1 July 2025. The measure is the headline trade-policy deliverable of the European Steel and Metals Action Plan unveiled by the Commission on 19 March 2025, and it is explicitly framed as a defensive response to (i) global overcapacity in Chinese steel and (ii) anticipated trade diversion into the EU after the United States reinstated universal 25% Section 232 steel/aluminum tariffs on 12 March 2025. Above-quota imports remain subject to the 25% out-of-quota duty inherited from the 2019 safeguard.
The European Commission adopted Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/501 on 18 March 2025, imposing definitive five-year anti-dumping duties on imports of continuous filament glass fibre yarns originating in China, published in the OJ on 19 March 2025. Duty rates are differentiated by Chinese exporter across the range 26.3%–56.1%, covering CN codes ex 7019 13 00 and ex 7019 19 00 (TARIC level). The measure follows a DG TRADE investigation finding dumped Chinese imports causing material injury to EU producers, directly protecting an estimated 1,200 EU jobs in the glass fibre sector.
The European Commission published Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/261 in the Official Journal on 10 February 2025, imposing definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of biodiesel (fatty-acid mono-alkyl esters / FAME and paraffinic gasoils from synthesis or hydro-treatment of non-fossil origin / HVO) originating in China. Duties range from 10.0% (EcoCeres, an individually-examined producer) to 21.7%–35.6% for other exporters, applied on top of the MFN import duty, covering an estimated €1.4 billion of annual EU-bound Chinese biodiesel flows. The regulation supersedes provisional duties imposed under CR (EU) 2024/2163 and explicitly excludes Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) from the AD scope while introducing mandatory SAF import-registration tracking.
The European Commission imposed definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of self-propelled mobile access equipment (MAE — aerial work platforms and similar machinery for lifting persons to heights of 6 metres or more) from China via Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/45 of 8 January 2025, with duties ranging from 20.6% to 54.9% depending on the exporting producer. A companion countervailing-duty (anti-subsidy) regulation, CR (EU) 2025/796 of 24 April 2025, added CVD layers of 7.3%–14.2%, bringing the combined AD+CVD duty range to 20.6%–66.7%. The combined package is the second EU trade-defence-against-China initiative completed in the first half of 2025, following the biodiesel AD case (CR 2025/261), and significantly raises the cost barrier for Chinese MAE producers — principally Sany, Zoomlion, and XCMG — in the EU market.
The European Commission adopted Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/4 on 17 December 2024, imposing definitive five-year anti-dumping duties on imports of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) originating in China, published in the OJ on 9 January 2025. Duty rates are differentiated by Chinese exporter: €0.25/kg for Anhui Jinhe Star (Gold Star), €0.74/kg for Lomon Billions Group and all non-cooperating exporters, and €0.64/kg for other cooperating producers — converting the provisional ad-valorem duties (14.4%–39.7%) imposed by CR 2024/1923 in July 2024 into specific definitive measures covering CN codes 3206 11 00 and 3206 19 00. China filed WTO dispute DS636 in April 2025 challenging the measure.
On 16 December 2024 the Council of the European Union adopted Council Regulation (EU) 2024/3192 amending Regulation (EU) 833/2014, the 15th package of restrictive measures against Russia. The package adds 84 asset-freeze listings (54 individuals and 30 entities) under Regulation 269/2014 — for the first time including fully-fledged designations of seven Chinese individuals and entities supplying drone components, machine tools, and dual-use goods to the Russian military-industrial complex. It expands the EU shadow-fleet vessel- ban list by 52 tankers (total 79), activates the standalone EU hybrid- threats sanctions regime with its first 16-individual / 3-entity designations, extends the wind-down derogation for divestment from Russian subsidiaries to 31 December 2025, and reinforces anti- circumvention contractual clauses on EU exporters of dual-use goods.
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.
On 3 April 2024 the European Commission opened two simultaneous FSR Phase II in-depth investigations — the second and third ever under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (Regulation 2022/2560) — concerning a Romanian public-procurement procedure for the design, construction and operation of a 454.97 MW EU-co-funded photovoltaic park (Rovinari Est). The first investigation targeted the ENEVO Group consortium including LONGi Solar Technologie GmbH (German subsidiary wholly owned by HK-listed LONGi Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd.); the second targeted Shanghai Electric UK Co. Ltd. and Shanghai Electric Hong Kong International Engineering Co., Ltd. (Chinese SOE). Both respondents withdrew from the procurement procedure after the Commission's opening; the Commission subsequently closed both investigations. This was the first FSR Phase II enforcement action in the renewable-energy / solar-PV sector and the first targeting a private Chinese-listed company's EU subsidiary.
On 16 February 2024 the European Commission opened case FSP.100147, the first-ever in-depth Phase II investigation under the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR, Regulation 2022/2560), to examine whether Chinese state-owned CRRC Qingdao Sifang Locomotive Co. Ltd. received foreign subsidies enabling it to submit an unduly advantageous tender for a EUR 614 million Bulgarian Ministry of Transport contract covering 20 zero-emission electric push-pull trains and 15 years of maintenance. The Commission identified approximately EUR 1.745 billion in total foreign financial contributions to CRRC — roughly five times the bid value. CRRC withdrew its tender on 26 March 2024 before the Commission could issue a final decision; the Commission closed the investigation following the withdrawal.
Regulation (EU) 2023/2842, published in the Official Journal on 20 December 2023, is the first comprehensive recast of the EU fisheries control framework since Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009, and amends the IUU Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008 alongside five sectoral regulations (1967/2006, 2016/1139, 2017/2403, 2019/473). Effective in phases from 10 January 2026, it mandates the CATCH electronic catch-certification IT system for ALL imports of wild-capture marine fishery products into the EU single market, replacing legacy paper catch certificates. It also introduces Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) with CCTV on high-risk EU vessels ≥18 m, full electronic reporting for all vessels by 2028, and extended Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) coverage down to vessels ≥12 m. The regulation tightens the carding regime (red/yellow cards for non-cooperating flag states under the amended IUU Regulation) and requires digital traceability end-to-end through the supply chain, raising compliance cost and market-access barriers for all non-EU seafood exporters.
Regulation (EU) 2022/2560 on foreign subsidies distorting the internal market — the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) — entered into force on 12 July 2023, with notification obligations becoming applicable from 12 October 2023. The FSR gives the European Commission powers to investigate financial contributions granted by non-EU governments to companies active in the EU, and to impose remedies (commitments, redressive measures, prohibitions) where such subsidies are found to distort competition. Three review tools: (i) notifiable concentrations (M&A above €500m EU turnover + €50m foreign financial contributions); (ii) notifiable public procurement bids (€250m+ contract value + €4m foreign contributions); (iii) ex-officio investigations of any other market situation. Although neutral on its face, the regime has been used predominantly against Chinese-state-backed bidders + investors.