Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2667 actions· ✨ 89 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 issued a countervailing duty (CVD) order on steel concrete reinforcing bar (rebar) from Algeria, effective 6 July 2026, imposing a 72.94% subsidy-offset rate on Tosyali Iron Steel Industry Algeria SPA and, by default, all other Algerian producers — a rate based on facts available with adverse inferences after the Algerian government and/or exporters did not fully cooperate with Commerce's subsidy questionnaires. Because USTR determined Algeria is not a "Subsidies Agreement country," the US ITC was not required to make an injury determination, so the CVD order took effect on Commerce's final subsidy determination alone. This is a separate legal track from the parallel antidumping case on the same product (see responds_to) — the AD investigation used a 127.32% margin, the CVD order uses 72.94%, and both stack as cumulative duties on Algerian rebar. Parallel countervailing-duty investigations on Egypt and Vietnam remained at the preliminary stage as of Commerce's 13 January 2026 determinations, with net subsidy rates set at 29.51% (Egypt) and 1.08% (Vietnam); these are provisional cash-deposit rates pending each country's final CVD determination.

Brazil's Câmara de Comércio Exterior (Gecex) approved Resolução nº 843, de 23 de dezembro de 2025, adding six glass and compressor products (across five NCM tariff lines) to Annex IX of the base tariff-nomenclature resolution (Gecex nº 272/2021) — the standing list of temporary import-tariff increases Brazil applies to individual NCM lines to counter import surges linked to trade imbalances from the international economic conjuncture. Annex IX additions carry the measure's tariff to Brazil's WTO-bound ceiling rate (35% for most non-capital-goods lines) for a fixed term; Global Trade Alert records this listing's validity as 26 December 2025 to 25 December 2026 (a 12-month term consistent with the mechanism's standard cycle). Global Trade Alert names Algeria, China and Czechia as the principal supplying countries affected.

Brazil's Foreign Trade Chamber executive committee (GECEX) issued Resolution No. 783 on 28 August 2025, published in the Diário Oficial da União on 29 August 2025, amending the "Lista de Autopeças Não Produzidas" (List of Non-Produced Auto Parts) under Resolução Gecex/Camex nº 284/2021. The resolution removed 59 tariff-line exemptions across 33 six-digit NCM subheadings (largely rubber-based auto components such as tyres, tubes, and other rubber semi-manufactures) from the Ex-Tarifário reduced-duty regime, reverting those lines to Brazil's standard Mercosur Common External Tariff rate. In the same instrument GECEX separately added 533 products across 122 subheadings to the reduced-duty list; this filing covers only the duty-increasing revocation component, which Global Trade Alert classifies as a "Red" (trade-restrictive) intervention. The resolution took effect seven days after publication (5 September 2025).

The US Department of Commerce initiated antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on steel concrete reinforcing bar (rebar) from Algeria, Bulgaria, Egypt, and Vietnam following a June 2025 petition by the Rebar Trade Action Coalition. On 19 December 2025, Commerce published its preliminary affirmative less-than-fair-value determination for Algeria, setting a 127.32% dumping margin (Tosyali Iron and Steel Industry — Algeria, applied to all other Algerian exporters) and requiring cash deposits at that rate. Parallel LTFV and countervailing-duty investigations on Bulgaria, Egypt, and Vietnam remained pending at the provisional/preliminary stage as of this determination, with Bulgaria and Egypt preliminary determinations later postponed to March 2026 (Egypt/Vietnam preliminary CVD margins of 29.51% and 1.08% respectively were set earlier in the case). The investigation covers rebar in straight-length or coil form (HTS-classified, excluding plain/smooth rounds), imported for use in reinforced-concrete construction. Algeria's period of investigation was April 2024–March 2025.