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

Japan's Cabinet decided on 2026-07-03 to extend for a further five years the 30.8% anti-dumping duty on dipotassium carbonate (K2CO3, used as a raw material in LCD glass and detergents) originating in South Korea. The duty was first imposed 2021-06-24 through 2026-06-23; following a June 2025 extension petition from domestic producer AGC Inc. and a MOF/METI investigation launched August 2025, the Customs Tariff Council's special duties subcommittee found a continued/recurring risk of dumped imports and material injury, and recommended a 5-year extension. The amending Cabinet Order (Cabinet Order No. 223 of 2026) was promulgated 2026-07-08 and took effect 2026-07-09, extending the duty period to 2031-07-07 at the unchanged 30.8% rate.

On 29 June 2026 China's Ministry of Commerce issued Announcement No. 27 [2026], adding 20 Japanese entities to the dual-use-item export-control Control List (受控名单) under the Dual-Use Export Control Regulations. The designated entities include four defense research institutes (National Institute for Defense Studies plus ground-, naval- and air-systems research bodies) and 16 companies, primarily Mitsubishi Electric and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries subsidiaries. The Control List designation imposes an absolute prohibition on exporting PRC-origin dual-use items — including rare earths and gallium/germanium/antimony-class strategic minerals — to the listed parties, and bars any third-country transfer of Chinese-origin dual-use items to them; ongoing supply activity must cease immediately, with exceptions only via special MOFCOM application. MOFCOM stated the action targets entities "involved in enhancing Japan's military capabilities."

The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) initiated an anti-dumping investigation on 25 June 2026 into imports of Hot Rolled Flat Products of Alloy or Non-Alloy Steel (width ≤ 2,100 mm, thickness ≤ 25 mm; not clad, plated or coated; stainless steel excluded; HS 7208, 7211, 7225, 7226) originating in or exported from China PR, Japan and Russia, following a petition by domestic producers JSW Steel, JSW Vijayanagar Metallics and Jindal Steel Odisha. DGTR's prima-facie assessment found export prices significantly below normal value, with dumping margins above the de-minimis threshold for all three origins. The period of investigation (POI) is January–December 2025; interested parties have 30 days to register and submit questionnaire responses.

India's Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) initiated anti-dumping investigation No. 6/17/2026-DGTR (SETU Case ID: AD/OI/016/2026) on 22 June 2026 into imports of Cold Rolled Grain Oriented Electrical Steel (CRGO) and Amorphous Metal (AM) originating in or exported from China PR, Japan, Korea RP, and Russia, on application by JSW JFE Electrical Steel Nashik Pvt Ltd (a JV between JSW Steel and Japan's JFE Steel Corporation). The period of investigation (POI) covers 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026; the injury analysis period spans 2022-23 through the POI. CRGO is the magnetic-core input for every power and distribution transformer, and amorphous metal is the next-generation low-loss core alternative; together they constitute grid-critical capital-equipment feedstock for India's electricity-system expansion, making this probe analytically distinct from — and more strategically sensitive than — the CRNO definitive-duty case (Notification 35/2025-Customs (ADD)).

At the Japan–UK bilateral summit in London on June 14, 2026, Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae and Prime Minister Keir Starmer issued the "Japan–UK Leaders' Joint Declaration on Economic Security Cooperation," committing to deepen collaboration on critical minerals supply-chain diversification (mining, refining, processing, recycling, stockpiling), a focused battery-materials and recycling dialogue, and semiconductor technology cooperation through the Japan–UK Frontier Technology Partnership. The two leaders expressed grave concerns over economic coercion and arbitrary export restrictions on critical minerals and other materials that could affect global supply chains. The declaration preceded and informed the G7 Évian critical-minerals alliance announced three days later on June 17, 2026.

Japan's Diet passed the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act (FEFTA) 2026 Amendment on 29 May 2026; the law was promulgated on 5 June 2026. The amendment represents the most significant overhaul of Japan's inbound FDI screening regime since FEFTA was first applied to national-security transactions in 2019. Three structural additions: (1) indirect-acquisition screening — extends mandatory prior-notification to acquisitions of Japanese sensitive-sector companies effected through intermediate holding structures or offshore parent vehicles, closing the principal gap exploited by Chinese and GCC SWF investors via SPV chains; (2) call-in powers — grants the Minister of Finance authority to open a review up to ten years retroactively where an acquisition was not pre-notified or where circumstances have materially changed since clearance, directly analogous to CFIUS § 721(b)(1)(D) retroactive jurisdiction; (3) cross-ministerial "Japan CFIUS" consultation framework — formally institutionalises a standing inter-agency committee (Finance, METI, MoD, NPA, MIAC) modelled on the US CFIUS committee, replacing the prior ad-hoc inter-ministerial process. Cross-ministerial and indirect-acquisition provisions entered into force immediately on promulgation (5 June 2026); remaining Cabinet-Order-level implementing provisions to follow within one year.

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 Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) issued final findings dated 28 April 2026 in the anti-dumping investigation concerning imports of Low Ash Metallurgical Coke (ash content ≤ 18%, HS 27040010, 27040020, 27040030, 27040090) originating in or exported from Australia, China PR, Colombia, Indonesia, Japan and Russia, recommending a downward revision of the provisional anti-dumping duties previously imposed by Notification No. 41/2025-Customs (ADD) of 31 December 2025. The final findings are recommendatory; a definitive implementing customs notification from CBIC is expected before the provisional measures expire around June 2026. Significant reductions in duty rates are recommended for Indonesian and Japanese origin imports; the investigation covers six coke-exporting countries competing with domestic producers led by Tata Steel, JSW Steel, SAIL, Jindal Steel (JSPL) and AMNS India.

On 15 April 2026 Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) published the interim summary "Manufacturing Base Strengthening Report" from the Study Group on Strengthening Manufacturing Base in Light of Geopolitical Risks. The report frames Japan's manufacturing base as the source of national power and proposes shifting economic-security support for "autonomy assurance" from "point" measures to "area"-wide measures — expanding the scope of Specified Critical Materials under the 2022 Economic Security Promotion Act (ESPA) beyond narrowly defined inputs to cover foundational petrochemicals (ethylene, propylene, methanol, synthetic rubber) and process-industry technologies (casting, forging), plus components for emerging technologies (humanoid-robot actuators and sensors, lasers for quantum computing). It is the cornerstone framework document operationalising METI's FY2026 strategic-budget package (~¥3.07 trillion overall envelope; ~¥1.23 trillion specifically for semiconductors and AI, including ¥150bn for Rapidus and ¥387.3bn for AI development) as Japan's coordinated response to deepening Chinese export-control pressure on dual-use items, gallium/germanium, graphite, antimony and heavy rare earths.

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.

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.

On 1 April 2026, Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae and President Emmanuel Macron held a Tokyo summit and signed a bilateral roadmap on cooperation in critical minerals — the first formal Japan-France instrument on supply-chain resilience for rare earths and other critical materials. The centrepiece is joint government support for Caremag, a heavy rare-earths refining project in southern France due to begin operations in late 2026, with backing from Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC), Iwatani Corporation, and the French government; the project targets approximately 20% of Japan's future demand for dysprosium and terbium (heavy rare-earth oxides used in EV motors, offshore-wind turbines, and electronic components). The two leaders also launched parallel high-level dialogues on dual-use AI, quantum technologies, space (including debris mitigation), cybersecurity, and a joint declaration on startups and innovation, expressing "serious concerns" over export controls on critical minerals and other materials affecting global supply chains — an explicit reference to China's tightening rare-earths export regime.

The Korea Trade Commission (KTC) at its 471st plenary session on 26 March 2026 adopted a final affirmative anti-dumping determination against imports of vertical articulated industrial robots (≥4 axes, 6–600 kg payload capacity) from Japan and China, recommending definitive five-year duties of 17.45–18.64% on Japanese-origin robots (Fanuc 17.45%, Yaskawa 18.64%) and 15.96–19.85% on Chinese-origin robots (KUKA Guangdong, ABB Shanghai, Kawasaki China-branch). Final duties are significantly lower than provisional duties of 21.17–43.6% imposed since November 2025 following an investigation initiated in March 2025 on petition by HD Hyundai Robotics. This is the first trade-remedy case on the register covering the industrial-automation / robotics sector.

South Africa's ITAC, acting on an application by ArcelorMittal South Africa and Columbus Stainless Steel, imposed definitive five-year anti-dumping duties on certain flat-rolled products of iron and steel (width ≥600 mm, HS 7208 and 7225 subheadings) from China (company-specific rates up to 47.92%), Japan (up to 57.23%) and Taiwan (24.20%), effective 19 March 2026 via SARS amendment to Schedule No. 2 of the Customs and Excise Act. The Commission found dumping from all three origins and material injury to the SACU regional industry (full findings in ITAC Report 767). Duties are layered on top of the existing 10% ordinary customs duty and 13% steel safeguard, substantially raising the landed cost of flat-rolled steel from Asia.

On 20 March 2026, METI/MOFA (Japan) and the US Departments of State and Energy jointly published the "Japan–United States Critical Minerals Project Cooperation Joint Fact Sheet," identifying five specific upstream critical-mineral projects spanning four continents (Australia, Tanzania, Brazil, UAE, Namibia) to receive structured joint financing through JOGMEC equity and offtake instruments and US DFC/Ex-Im Bank facilities. The document operationalises the October 2025 US-Japan Critical Minerals Framework and the same-day Action Plan, converting policy-framework language into named project commitments covering nickel, lithium, battery-anode graphite, and heavy rare earths. It was released the day following the Takaichi–Trump summit on 19 March 2026 and follows the Critical Minerals Investment Ministerial convened in Tokyo on 14 March 2026.

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 24 February 2026 China's Ministry of Commerce simultaneously issued Announcement No. 11 and Announcement No. 12 [2026], activating for the first time the Control List (受控名单) mechanism under Article 28 and the Watch List (关注名单) mechanism under Article 26 of the Dual-Use Export Control Regulations (effective 1 December 2024), designating 40 Japanese entities in total. The Control List (20 entities, led by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Shipbuilding Co.) imposes an absolute prohibition on any person or entity worldwide supplying PRC-origin dual-use items to listed parties; the Watch List (20 entities, led by SUBARU Corporation) bars general licensing and requires exporters to file risk assessments and non-military-use commitments. MOFCOM framed both measures as a response to Japan's "remilitarization" trajectory, escalating well beyond the blanket enhanced- review framework established by Announcement No. 1 [2026] in January.

On 23 February 2026 the Korea Trade Commission (KTC) at its 461st plenary meeting adopted a final affirmative anti-dumping determination against hot-rolled carbon and alloy steel (HRC) imports from China and Japan, recommending definitive five-year duties of 28.16–33.10% on Chinese-origin HRC and 31.58–33.57% on Japanese-origin HRC to the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF) for implementation via customs notification. The investigation was initiated in March 2024 on petition by Hyundai Steel, following December 2023 injury allegations, with provisional duties imposed in September 2025. KTC simultaneously recommended acceptance of price-undertaking commitments from three Japanese companies (including JFE Steel and Nippon Steel) and six Chinese companies (including Baosteel), allowing those exporters to avoid the definitive duties by maintaining minimum import-price levels; remaining non-participating exporters face the full duty rates under a five-year WTO ADA Article 11 sunset ending 2031.

President Trump signed a Presidential Proclamation on 20 February 2026 invoking Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. § 2132) to impose a temporary 10% ad-valorem import surcharge on articles imported into the United States, effective 12:01 a.m. EST on 24 February 2026. The proclamation was issued within hours of the US Supreme Court's 20 February 2026 ruling in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, which held that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize the president to set tariffs and vacated the IEEPA-based reciprocal-tariff regime previously in effect. The Section 122 surcharge is statutorily limited to 150 days (terminates 24 July 2026 absent Congressional extension) and the statute caps any such surcharge at 15% ad valorem. Goods qualifying as USMCA originating from Canada or Mexico are exempt; CAFTA-DR textile/apparel articles meeting specified rules of origin are exempt; and a substantial product-exception list excludes critical minerals, energy products, certain pharmaceuticals, electronics, vehicles, aerospace products, specified agricultural goods, and goods already subject to Section 232 duties (the Section 122 duty does not stack on Section 232).

NEDO, under METI's Green Innovation Fund, launched the "Next-Generation Tandem Solar Cell Mass Production Technology Demonstration Project," a JPY 153.3 billion (maximum; JPY 123.2 billion committed for the initial three-year phase) programme running fiscal 2025-2030. Two companies — Kaneka Corporation and Aisin Corp — were selected, each holding mass-production plans exceeding 500MW by fiscal 2030 for perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells. The programme targets conversion efficiency above 30% and a residential generation cost below JPY 12/kWh, aimed at establishing high-yield, high-throughput manufacturing processes ahead of anticipated global scale-up.

Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Japan's state export-credit and outbound-investment finance institution, signed a loan agreement on 2026-02-04 providing up to USD 18 million to Hitachi Energy Turkey Elektrik Sanayi A.Ş., the Turkish subsidiary of Hitachi Energy Ltd. MUFG Bank Turkey A.Ş. co-financed a further USD 12 million, bringing the total facility to USD 30 million. The loan funds relocation and expansion of Hitachi Energy's transformer manufacturing plant in Türkiye, intended to raise transformer production capacity amid rising global grid-equipment demand. JBIC cited support for "the international competitiveness of the Japanese power infrastructure industry" and alignment with the Japanese government's policy of promoting global power-network development.

Brazil's Câmara de Comércio Exterior (Gecex) approved Resolução nº 848, de 29 de janeiro de 2026, amending Annexes IV (supply-shortage tariff reductions), V (Letec exceptions list) and VI (LEBIT/BK — IT/telecom and capital-goods exceptions list) of the base tariff-nomenclature resolution (Gecex nº 272/2021). The measure grants a new 0% duty-free tariff-rate quota of 2,500 tonnes/year for poly(oxyethylene) methallyl ether (HPEG, NCM 3907.29.92) through 26 November 2026; adds 0% duty treatment for an esketamine hydrochloride nasal-spray medicine (NCM 3004.90.39) and several pharmaceutical active ingredients including amprenavir and efavirenz (NCM 3004.90.78); and adds cellular base-station antennas (NCM 8517.71.20, 25,000-unit quota through 19 August 2026), diesel-electric locomotives (NCM 8602.10.00, through 25 February 2027) and panoramic maxillary X-ray equipment (NCM 9022.13.11, at a 12.6% rate) to the LEBIT/BK exceptions list. Most changes take effect 1 February 2026 (some 2 February 2026); Article 7 directs SECEX to publish complementary quota-allocation criteria.

Malaysia's Ministry of Finance gazetted P.U. (A) 9/2026, the Customs (Prohibition of Imports) (Amendment) Order 2026, on 9 January 2026, taking effect 15 January 2026. The order adds 1-boc-4-piperidone and P-2-P methyl glycidic acid (BMK glycidic acid) — together with its methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, butyl, isobutyl, sec-butyl and tert-butyl esters — to the Second Schedule of the Customs (Prohibition of Imports) Order 2017, requiring an approved permit before import. Global Trade Alert lists China, Japan and South Korea among the trade partners affected by the new licensing gate.

On 6 January 2026 China's Ministry of Commerce issued Announcement No. 1 [2026] "On Strengthening Export Controls on Dual-Use Items to Japan" (商务部公告2026年第1号), the first PRC export-control instrument to single out a named country other than the United States. Effective immediately on publication with no wind-down period, the measure prohibits export of all dual-use items under PRC export-control law where the end-user is the Japanese Ministry of Defense or Self-Defense Forces, the end-use is Japanese military, or — under a novel catch-all standard — the transaction would "enhance Japan's military capabilities." The standard is explicitly extraterritorial, covering transfers of PRC-origin dual-use items through third countries and in-country transfers where the end-user / end-use falls within scope. The political trigger was Japanese PM Takaichi's November 2025 Diet remarks framing a Taiwan contingency as a Japanese "survival-threatening situation" justifying SDF deployment.

The Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue (Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs) issued Notification No. 02/2025-Customs (SG) dated 30 December 2025, imposing a definitive three-year safeguard duty on imports of "Non-Alloy and Alloy Steel Flat Products" classified under Customs Tariff headings 7208, 7209, 7210, 7211, 7212, 7225 and 7226 (hot-rolled coils/sheets/plates, hot-rolled plate-mill plates, cold-rolled coils/sheets, metallic coated sheets including galvanneal and aluminium-zinc coated, and colour-coated coils/sheets). Duty rates are graduated: 12% ad valorem for 21 April 2025 – 20 April 2026, 11.5% for 21 April 2026 – 20 April 2027, and 11% for 21 April 2027 – 20 April 2028. The notification implements the final findings of the Director General (Trade Remedies) (DGTR notification 22/01/2024-DGTR dated 16 August 2025) which concluded that imports of subject goods rose from 2.293 mt in FY 2021-22 to 6.612 mt during the period of investigation, causing serious injury and threat of serious injury to the domestic industry. The definitive measure supersedes the provisional 200-day safeguard duty imposed at 12% ad valorem from 21 April 2025 by Notification 01/2025-Customs (SG); no safeguard duty applies for the interim period between expiry of the provisional duty (early November 2025) and the day preceding Gazette publication of the definitive notification. Imports from developing-country WTO members are exempt unless the share of any individual developing country exceeds 3% of total imports of the subject goods, or the collective share of developing countries exceeding 3% individually exceeds 9% — the China and Vietnam carve-outs from this exemption preserve full applicability of the duty to the dominant cheap-import sources.

On 26 December 2025, Japan's Cabinet approved the FY2026 (Reiwa 8) national budget, which the Global Trade Alert database logs as including a "Multi-modal Foundation Model Development Project with a Focus on AI Robots and Physical AI" financial-grant line administered by METI, effective with the fiscal year on 1 April 2026. NEDO -- METI's implementing R&D agency -- operationalised this line through a commissioned-project (100%-funded) solicitation opened 24 March 2026 and closed 22 April 2026, capping funding at up to JPY 383.4 billion (~USD 2.5bn) per adopted proposal for FY2026, with the programme running FY2026 through FY2030 (initial contract period FY2026-FY2027, annual stage-gate reviews thereafter). The goal is a domestically developed multimodal ("VLM/VLA") foundation model that keeps Japanese factory-floor and robotics data onshore while underpinning "physical AI" -- AI systems embedded in robots and industrial equipment -- to address labour shortages and lift manufacturing productivity. NEDO's call for proposals subsequently selected Noetra Inc. and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST/産総研) as awardees.

Japan's Cabinet approved the FY2026 (Reiwa 8) national budget on 26 December 2025, under which METI's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE) funds a new financial-grant line, the "Decarbonized Power Source Regional Contribution Investment Promotion Project" (脱炭素電源地域貢献型 投資促進事業), for the fiscal year running 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. The programme subsidizes large-scale capital investment by electricity consumers -- prioritising data centres and industrial facilities -- that agree to site near decarbonized power sources (nuclear, renewables) and contribute economically to the host municipality, as one of four designated tracks under Japan's GX Strategy Area system. ANRE opened its solicitation for the executing body that will administer FY2026 disbursements via a public offer published 5 February 2026.

On 26 December 2025, Japan's Cabinet approved a FY2025 (Reiwa 7) supplementary budget line -- the "Renewable Energy Expansion: Grid- Connected Storage Battery and Other Power Storage System Introduction Support Project" -- budgeted at JPY 8.0 billion (rising to JPY 61.6 billion including multi-year budgetary commitment authority, kokko-saimu futan koi). Global Trade Alert logs this as one of 23 METI programmes under the FY2026 budget cycle supporting Japan's "green transformation" of the industrial sector, effective with the start of fiscal year 2026 on 1 April 2026. The programme subsidises private- sector installation of grid-connected batteries, batteries co-located with renewable generation, demand-side batteries, and long-duration energy storage (LDES) systems, aiming to secure decarbonised balancing capacity as renewable penetration rises and to build resilience against energy-price volatility. METI's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy opened the call for the executing body (shikko dantai) that will run the subsidy's application, screening and disbursement process on 24 December 2025, with submissions due 22 January 2026.

On 26 December 2025, Japan's Cabinet approved the FY2026 (Reiwa 8) national budget, which creates a new JPY 3.0 billion (~USD 20m) financial-grant line, the "Business Commercialisation Promotion Project for Combinate Regeneration under the GX Strategic Regional System" (GX戦略地域制度におけるコンビナート 等再生に向けた事業化促進事業), administered by METI. The single-year (FY2026 only) grant funds feasibility work -- project-cost and profitability evaluation, investment-decision support for new operators, and off-taker matching -- for redeveloping idle or underused industrial-complex ("combinate") sites into new GX-aligned industrial clusters. It is one of four categories under METI's GX Strategic Regional System, alongside data-centre aggregation, decarbonized-power utilisation, and decarbonized- power regional-contribution types (the last already filed separately in this register). The programme takes effect with Japan's fiscal year on 1 April 2026.

Japan's Cabinet approved the FY2026 (Reiwa 8) national budget on 26 December 2025, under which METI's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE) renewed the "Housing and Buildings Integrated Demand-Supply Energy Conservation Investment Promotion Project" (住宅・建築物需給一体型等省エネ ルギー投資促進事業費) for the fiscal year running 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. The programme is a financial-grant subsidy, open to all firms, that funds net-zero-energy building (ZEB) and net-zero-energy house (ZEH) demonstration and retrofit investment as part of Japan's broader green transformation (GX) industrial-policy stack. ANRE opened its solicitation for the executing body that will administer FY2026 disbursements via a public offer published 2 February 2026.

On 26 December 2025, Japan's Cabinet approved the FY2026 (Reiwa 8) national budget, which the Global Trade Alert database logs as including a "Leading Technology Development and Demonstration Project for Hydrogen Society Promotion" financial-grant line administered by METI, effective with the fiscal year on 1 April 2026. NEDO -- METI's implementing R&D agency -- operationalises this budget line through competitive solicitations for hydrogen-supply-chain technology development and demonstration; the FY2026 tranche includes the "Advanced Technology Development and Demonstration Project for Hydrogen Society Model Construction" (水素社会モデル構築高度化技術開発・ 実証事業, project code P26004), soliciting proposals from 19 March to 22 April 2026 for regional hydrogen-supply-chain business models (survey phase up to 2 years; technology development/demonstration phase up to 5 years). The predecessor NEDO hydrogen-technology- development project line (FY2014-2025) was budgeted at roughly JPY 8.1 billion in its final year (FY2025); the FY2026-specific grant total was not disclosed in the sources reviewed.

Japan's Cabinet approved the FY2026 (Reiwa 8) national budget on 26 December 2025, funding METI/ANRE's "Hydropower Energy Introduction Promotion Project" (水力発電導入促進支援事業費補助金) -- one of the programmes Global Trade Alert logs under the FY2026 METI budget cycle, which it puts at a JPY 2.8 billion allocation. ANRE opened a public offer on 26 January 2026 (closed 16 February 2026) for the executing body that would administer indirect subsidies to private-sector and municipal operators for FY2026-27; the New Energy Foundation (一般財団 法人新エネルギー財団) was selected on 20 February 2026. The programme supports two tracks: subsidised replacement/upgrade of ageing existing hydropower facilities to raise output and efficiency, and feasibility studies to expand new entrants into small and mid-scale hydropower.

On 26 December 2025, Japan's Cabinet approved the FY2026 (Reiwa 8) initial budget, which allocates a new JPY 415 billion (~USD 2.7bn) line to the "Low-Carbon Hydrogen Hub Development Support Project" (低炭素水素 等拠点整備支援事業), administered by METI's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE) through JOGMEC under the Hydrogen Society Promotion Act framework enacted in 2024. The programme subsidises Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) and construction costs for shared transport and storage infrastructure -- tanks, pipelines and receiving-terminal equipment -- built jointly by multiple businesses to move low-carbon hydrogen and its derivatives (ammonia, e-methane, synthetic fuels) from import/production points to industrial users. It sits alongside, but is administratively distinct from, JOGMEC's separately-run "price-gap" (kakakusa) 15-year CfD offtake support for hydrogen suppliers. The budget takes effect with Japan's fiscal year on 1 April 2026, subject to ordinary Diet passage in early 2026.

On 26 December 2025, Japan's Cabinet approved the FY2026 (Reiwa 8) national budget, which Global Trade Alert logs as including a "Next-Generation Aircraft Development Support" financial-grant programme administered by METI, effective with the fiscal year on 1 April 2026 and running through 31 March 2027. The line item corresponds to METI's "Next-Generation Aircraft Development Support Project" (jiki kokuki kaihatsu-to shien jigyo), funded through the Decarbonisation Growth-type Economic Structure Transition Promotion Subsidy (GX Transition Bond proceeds) and disbursed via a designated implementing body to aerospace-supply-chain firms. The FY2026 allocation is JPY 150 billion, up from JPY 81 billion in FY2025 -- an 85% increase -- aimed at strengthening Japan's aircraft-parts and materials supply chain (composites, advanced materials, engine and airframe components) and its international-competitiveness and economic-security positioning in next-generation aircraft programmes.

On 26 December 2025, Japan's Cabinet approved the FY2026 (Reiwa 8) national budget, which allocates JPY 122.0 billion (~USD 800m) to the "Next-Generation Innovative Reactor Technology Development and Industrial Base Strengthening Support Project" (次世代革新炉の技術開発・産業基盤強化支援事業), up from JPY 88.9 billion in the FY2025 initial budget plus a JPY 6.0 billion FY2025 supplementary allocation. The programme, administered by ANRE under METI's GX (Green Transformation) Promotion budget, funds technology development and supply-chain build-out for Japan's "innovative light-water reactors" (revised BWR/PWR designs with enhanced passive safety) and small modular reactors under the government's GX2040 Vision. The budget takes effect with Japan's fiscal year on 1 April 2026, subject to ordinary Diet passage in early 2026.

On 26 December 2025, Japan's Cabinet under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi approved the FY2026 (Reiwa 8) national budget, which allocates JPY 150 billion (~USD 1bn) to the "Investment Project for Mass Production of Next-Generation Semiconductors" -- a state equity-investment line administered by the Information-technology Promotion Agency (IPA) that funds Rapidus Corporation's 2nm-class logic fab in Chitose, Hokkaido. The FY2026 allocation is 50% larger than the JPY 100 billion IPA equity tranche budgeted for FY2025, taking cumulative government equity in Rapidus to roughly JPY 250 billion. The line sits inside METI's wider AI/semiconductor budget of JPY 1.239 trillion for FY2026 (up roughly 4x year-on-year) under the "AI/Semiconductor Industry Base Strengthening Frame," part of the government's pledge of over JPY 10 trillion in public support for AI and chips through FY2030. The budget takes effect with Japan's fiscal year on 1 April 2026, subject to ordinary Diet passage in early 2026.

On 26 December 2025, Japan's Cabinet approved the FY2026 (Reiwa 8) national budget, which the Global Trade Alert database logs as including a "Capital Investment in Oil and Natural Gas Field Exploration and Asset Acquisition Projects" financial-grant/equity line administered by METI, effective with the fiscal year on 1 April 2026. This continues the government's long-standing equity-investment scheme -- run through JOGMEC (the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security) -- that co-funds Japanese companies' upstream oil and gas exploration, development, and M&A/asset-acquisition activity abroad. The FY2026 initial-budget allocation for this specific line is JPY 42.7 billion, down from JPY 56.3 billion in FY2025, though a JPY 19.7 billion supplementary appropriation lifts total FY2026 availability to roughly JPY 62.4 billion -- a modest net increase over FY2025 once the supplementary tranche is included.

On 26 December 2025, Japan's Cabinet approved the FY2026 (Reiwa 8) national budget, which the Global Trade Alert database logs as including a "Project to Promote the Strengthening of Autonomous Resource Circulation Systems" financial-grant line administered by METI, effective with the fiscal year on 1 April 2026. The line is the continuation of METI's "Decarbonisation Growth-Type Economic Structure Transition Promotion Subsidy (Autonomous Resource Circulation System Strengthening Promotion Project)" (脱炭素成長型経済 構造移行推進対策費補助金（自律型資源循環システム強靱化促進事業）), which funds private-sector investment in recycled-material manufacturing and recovery equipment for rare metals/rare earths, automotive and small-electronics lithium-ion batteries, plastics, and textiles. Japanese budget-press reporting puts the FY2026 allocation at JPY 7.3 billion (73億円), up from JPY 3.0 billion (30億円) in FY2025 -- roughly a 2.4x year-on-year increase. METI opened the call for the executing body (執行団体) on 18 February 2026, with the General Incorporated Association for Low-Carbon Investment Promotion (GIO) again acting as the designated administrator, as it did for the FY2025 round.

Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) and the Cabinet Office jointly published the Shipbuilding Revival Roadmap (造船業再生ロードマップ) on 26 December 2025, redefining shipbuilding as a "national strategic industry" within an All-Japan shipping-and-shipbuilding framework. The Roadmap targets doubling domestic shipbuilding capacity from ~9 million GT to 18 million GT by 2035 (re-capturing roughly 20% global market share) backed by a ¥1 trillion (~USD 6.4 bn) public-private investment commitment over three staged phases (2026-28 automation, 2029-31 facility expansion, 2032-34 dock-operation support), mandates consolidation of domestic shipbuilders into 1-3 groups by 2028, and is funded in its first three years by a ¥120 bn FY2025 supplementary budget enacted in December 2025.

Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Japan's state export-credit and outbound-investment finance institution, signed a loan agreement on 2025-12-22 providing JPY 135 billion (approx. USD 865 million) to Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL), co-financed alongside private financial institutions for a total facility of JPY 250 billion. The loan finances part of the funds MOL used to acquire LBC Tank Terminals Group Holding Netherlands Coöperatief U.A., a chemical tank-terminal operator with core operations in Europe and the US; the acquisition itself completed in June 2025.

Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Japan's state export-credit and outbound-investment finance institution, signed a loan agreement on 2025-12-22 providing approximately USD 189 million toward a syndicated facility for UnicornMark Discovery Pte. Ltd., a special-purpose vehicle incorporated by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) to own Singapore's first floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU). Co-lenders are MUFG Bank, DBS Bank, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, and Standard Chartered (Singapore). The vessel will be chartered to Singapore LNG Corporation, the state-owned LNG terminal operator, under a leasing/operation/maintenance arrangement.

Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Japan's state export-credit and outbound-investment finance institution, signed a loan agreement announced 2025-12-18/19 providing USD 98 million toward roughly USD 163 million in total co-financing (with Mizuho Bank) for NSC (Australia) Pty Ltd (NSCA), the Australian subsidiary of Nippon Sanso Holdings Corporation (TSE: 4091). The facility finances part of NSCA's July 2025 acquisition of the Coregas Group (Coregas Pty Ltd and Blacksmith Jacks Pty Ltd in Australia, Coregas NZ Limited in New Zealand), an industrial-gas producer with one of the Southern Hemisphere's largest production facilities and an active hydrogen-production development program. JBIC explicitly framed the loan as supporting "Japan's economic security" by strengthening the resilience of industrial-gas supply chains used across manufacturing, medical, and beverage industries.