Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2670 actions· ✨ 89 recent

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.

India's CBIC imposed definitive anti-dumping duties ranging from USD 75 to USD 1,748 per tonne on imports of Sulphenamides Accelerators — rubber vulcanisation chemicals used in tyre and rubber goods manufacturing — originating in or exported from China, the European Union, and the United States, via Notification No. 11/2026-Customs (ADD) dated 19 June 2026. The duties are valid for five years following DGTR final findings of dumping below normal value causing material injury to the Indian domestic industry. The principal domestic producer benefiting from the measure is NOCIL Limited (NSE: NOCIL), India's largest rubber chemicals manufacturer, which produces Sulphenamides Accelerators under its Pilcure brand.

On 20 May 2026, the Council of the EU and the European Parliament reached a provisional political agreement on two Commission regulations implementing the tariff elements of the EU-US Joint Statement of 21 August 2025. The main regulation (COM(2025)0471) eliminates remaining EU customs duties on US industrial goods and grants preferential market access for US seafood and non-sensitive agricultural products. The second regulation (COM(2025)0472) extends the suspension of EU duties on US lobster imports (including processed lobster) retroactively from 1 August 2025. Both regulations sunset on 31 December 2029 and include a Commission safeguard mechanism to suspend concessions if the US fails to meet its Joint Statement commitments.

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) 2026/801 on 9 April 2026, imposing provisional anti-dumping duties on imports of terephthalic acid (PTA, purity ≥99.5% by weight, CAS 100-21-0, CN code ex 2917 36 00 / TARIC 2917 36 00 11) originating in the Republic of Korea and Mexico, published in the OJ on 10 April 2026 and entering into force the following day. Duty rates are exporter-specific: Korean producers face 6.2% (Samnam Petrochemical, Hanwha Impact) to 13.7% (all other), with Taekwang Industrial Co. found not to be dumping (0%); all Mexican exporting producers face a flat 25.7%. The investigation was opened 13 August 2025 following a complaint by EU producer Ineos Aromatics.

On 2 April 2026 President Trump issued a Presidential Proclamation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 ("Adjusting Imports of Pharmaceuticals and Pharmaceutical Ingredients into the United States") imposing a 100% ad valorem tariff on imports of patented pharmaceutical products listed in the FDA Orange Book and Purple Book, together with the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and key starting materials used to make them. The base rate takes effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT on 31 July 2026 for the 17 manufacturers identified in Annex III, and on 29 September 2026 for all other companies. The proclamation adopts findings of the Section 232 investigation initiated by the Department of Commerce on 14 April 2025 into pharmaceuticals and APIs as a national- security supply-chain risk. The instrument is structured around a multi-tier rate ladder rather than a flat tariff: concessionary 15% rates for EU/Japan/South Korea/Switzerland/Liechtenstein under reciprocal-deal tracks, 10% for the UK with a pathway to 0% under the pending UK pharmaceutical agreement, a "+20%" surcharge for companies operating under a Commerce-approved onshoring plan (until 2 April 2030), and a 0% pathway for companies that combine an approved onshoring plan with an MFN-pricing agreement with HHS (until 20 January 2029). Generics, biosimilars and their ingredients, orphan drugs, nuclear medicines, plasma-derived therapies, fertility treatments, and cell/gene therapies are carved out.

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.

On 11 March 2026 USTR Ambassador Jamieson Greer initiated parallel Section 301 investigations into the acts, policies, and practices of 16 economies — China, the European Union, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Mexico, Japan, and India — relating to structural excess capacity and overproduction in manufacturing sectors. The Federal Register notice (FR doc 2026-05214; dockets USTR-2026-0067 and USTR-2026-0068) was published on 17 March 2026. Covered sectors include aluminum, automobiles, batteries, cement, chemicals, electronics, energy goods, glass, machine tools, machinery, paper, plastics, processed food and beverages, robotics, satellites, semiconductors, ships, solar modules, steel, and transportation equipment. Written comments were due by 15 April 2026; USTR held the public hearing beginning 5 May 2026. This is the most sweeping multi-economy Section 301 initiative since the 2018 China investigation and is structurally distinct from the China-only 2024-05-14 §301 tariff hikes and the 2025-07-15 Brazil §301 investigation.

On 1 May 2026 the trade pillar of the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement (the "Interim Trade Agreement", iTA) entered provisional application between the European Union and the four Mercosur states — Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay — following its publication in the EU Official Journal on 27 February 2026 alongside the broader EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement (EMPA). The iTA covers goods (eliminating duties on more than 90% of bilateral trade over a transition period including immediate cuts on cars, pharmaceuticals, wine and olive oil), services, government procurement at federal and state level, intellectual property (344 EU geographical indications protected), SPS/TBT disciplines, and a sustainability chapter. Mercosur receives tariff-rate quotas on agri-food exports (beef, poultry, sugar, ethanol, honey). Provisional application proceeds pending full ratification of EMPA by the Council, European Parliament and all EU national parliaments and a pending CJEU opinion; only the trade pillar applies provisionally.

On 27 January 2026 the European Union and India announced the conclusion of negotiations on a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement at the EU-India summit hosted at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, attended by PM Narendra Modi, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President António Costa. The deal — described by both leaders as the "mother of all deals" — covers ~25% of world GDP and ~2 billion people. The EU eliminates duties on 91% of tariff lines (covering 99.3% of bilateral trade by value); India eliminates duties on 86% of lines (covering 96.6% by value). Headline cuts include Indian tariffs on EU wines (150% → 75% at entry into force, falling to 20%), olive oil (45% → 0% over five years) and processed agri-food (up to 50% eliminated); EU tariffs are reduced/eliminated on Indian textiles, leather/footwear, gems and jewelry, marine products, tea, coffee, spices and certain agricultural and steel products. The agreement still requires Council adoption, European Parliament consent and approval by India's Union Council of Ministers; entry into force is expected in early 2027. Companion instruments concluded at the same summit include an EU-India Security and Defence Partnership and a Mobility and Migration Agreement.