Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2667 actions· ✨ 89 recent

On June 2, 2026, USTR published final actionability findings in 60 parallel Section 301(b) investigations — the largest simultaneous Section 301 action in US history — determining that all 60 economies maintain unreasonable acts, policies, or practices by failing to impose or effectively enforce a prohibition on imports produced with forced labor. USTR proposed two additional duty rates: 10% on the 14 economies with partial forced-labor regimes (Canada, Ecuador, EU, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malaysia, Taiwan, UK) and 12.5% on the remaining 46 economies. Tariff rates remain proposed pending a July 7, 2026 public hearing and subsequent finalization; the actionability determination is final.

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.

Egypt's Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade issued a ministerial decree on 31 March 2026 imposing definitive three-year safeguard duties on imports of flat-rolled steel products — covering hot-rolled coil (HRC), cold-rolled coil (CRC), hot-dip galvanized/galvannealed (HDG/GI), and pre-painted steel (PPGI) — effective 1 April 2026 and running through approximately 13 September 2028. The measure converts the 200-day provisional safeguard (Ministerial Decision No. 400/2025, effective 14 September 2025) into a definitive instrument and simultaneously extends coverage to CRC, HDG and PPGI products that had been subject to a separate parallel investigation launched September 2025; Egypt concurrently terminated the anti-dumping probe on CRC/HDG/PPGI from China and Turkey without imposing AD duties, making the safeguard the sole operative instrument. Duties are erga-omnes (all WTO Members, subject to Article 9.1 developing-country de minimis) and follow a three-tier declining-duty structure: CRC at 13.7%/min USD 83/t in Year 1, falling to 12.5%/min USD 76/t in Year 3; HDG at 14%/min USD 93/t declining to 13%; PPGI at 14.5% declining to 13.5%.

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.

Egypt's Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade issued Ministerial Decision No. 399 of 2025 on 11 September 2025, imposing a 200-day temporary MFN safeguard on imports of semi-finished products of iron or non-alloy steel (billets, HS 7207) — a 16.2% ad-valorem duty on CIF value with a minimum specific-duty floor of EGP 4,613 per metric ton. The measure took effect 14 September 2025 following a Trade Remedies Sector investigation, and was formally notified to the WTO Committee on Safeguards on 10 September 2025 alongside the investigation initiation. It is the third of a same-day trilogy of provisional steel safeguards — Decisions 398 (cold-rolled/ galvanised), 399 (billets), and 400 (hot-rolled coil) — each covering a distinct flat/semi-finished steel product category, imposed under Egypt's National Economy Safeguard Law (Law No. 161 of 1998) and Articles 79, 82 and 83 of its Executive Regulations, citing serious injury from a surge in steel imports (USD 260 million in 2025-H1) to domestic producers.

Egypt's Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade issued Ministerial Decision No. 400 of 2025 on 11 September 2025, imposing a 200-day temporary MFN safeguard on imports of hot-rolled flat steel products (HS 7208) — a 13.6% ad-valorem duty on CIF value with a minimum specific-duty floor of EGP 3,673 per metric ton. The measure covers flat-rolled iron and non-alloy steel of width ≥600 mm, effective 14 September 2025, published in the Official Gazette (Al-Waqai Al-Misriya) on 13 September 2025. The safeguard was initiated under Law No. 161 of 1998 (Anti-Dumping, Anti-Subsidy and Safeguard Law) following a Trade Remedies Sector investigation launched April 2025 on petition from a five-producer domestic-industry consortium (Egyptian Iron and Steel, Ezz Steel, Suez Steel, Beshay Steel, Egyptian Steel), citing a USD 260 million import surge in 2025-H1 causing serious injury to domestic flat-steel producers. Companion Decisions Nos. 398 and 399 of 2025 impose parallel temporary safeguards on cold-rolled/galvanised steel and on semi-finished billets, forming the Egypt 2025 steel safeguard trilogy; a final determination in April 2026 extended the measure to a definitive three-year period.

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.