Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2663 actions· ✨ 89 recent

The European Investment Bank and STMicroelectronics signed a EUR 500 million financing agreement, the first tranche of a EUR 1 billion credit line approved by the EIB, to support semiconductor research, development and high-volume manufacturing investments at ST's Catania and Agrate sites in Italy and its Crolles site in France. About 60% of the facility is earmarked for high-volume manufacturing capacity and 40% for R&D. It is the ninth financing agreement between EIB and STMicroelectronics since 1994, bringing cumulative EIB financing to the company to roughly EUR 4.2 billion, and is explicitly framed by the EIB around European semiconductor competitiveness and strategic autonomy.

On 18 September 2025, as part of the third phase of France's national AI strategy under the France 2030 programme, the government opened the "Pionniers de l'intelligence artificielle" (Pioneers of AI) call for projects, operated by Bpifrance and the NALU ("Numérique, Algorithmes, Logiciels et Usages") agency program led by Inria. The scheme funds disruptive AI technologies and applications across industrial robotics, healthcare, energy production/distribution and manufacturing through a three-phase funnel: Phase 1 (technical feasibility, EUR 100k-200k over 6-12 months), Phase 2 (demonstrator, EUR 400k-800k over 6-18 months) and Phase 3 (market launch, EUR 3-8M over 1-3 years), with projects re-vetted for technological and economic relevance between phases. Submissions run 11 September 2025 to 9 June 2026 across multiple deadline windows; as of the government's 18 June 2026 update, 51 projects (23 in a first round, 28 in a second) had been selected, including firms such as IMIND (microelectronics), Skipper NDT, Sagacity Health, Lutece Dynamics, HyprView, DeepLife, Phagos and Wintics, alongside multiple Inria-led projects.

The European Investment Bank signed a EUR 450 million loan with Thales to finance the group's 2025-2027 research and development investment programme in aeronautics and radar. The aeronautics stream targets safety and efficiency improvements for civil and military flight; the radar stream funds modernisation of existing equipment and development of a new generation of civil and military radar systems and software. The EIB frames the deal as its first-ever corporate loan to Thales and one of the largest it has extended to Europe's security and defence sector, part of a EUR 3.5 billion (3.5% of 2025 financing) EIB Group allocation to security and defence.

Banque des Territoires, acting on behalf of the French State under the France 2030 programme, launched a EUR 500 million fund-of-funds called "Global Tech Coté" on 7 August 2025. The vehicle takes minority stakes (EUR 15 million minimum, capped at 10% of a target fund's subscribed capital) in privately-managed investment funds that in turn back publicly-listed French technology companies with strong growth potential, aiming to build up domestic asset-management capacity alongside the state's stated goal of channelling capital into equities. The selection window for management companies runs until 31 December 2026 or until the EUR 500 million envelope is exhausted, whichever comes first.

On 27 July 2025, President Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reached political agreement at Turnberry, Scotland, on a Framework Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair and Balanced Trade. The framework was formalised in a Joint Statement published on 21 August 2025 by the White House and DG TRADE. The deal establishes a 15% all-inclusive (MFN + Section 232) US tariff ceiling on the vast majority of EU originating goods — including autos, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, lumber, and chemicals — replacing the threatened 20-30% reciprocal tariff trajectory under EO 14257 (April 2025). Steel and aluminium are excluded from the 15% ceiling and remain at the 50% Section 232 rate pending negotiation of a quota solution. In return, the EU commits to: (i) eliminate tariffs on all US industrial goods, (ii) preferential market access for a wide range of US agricultural and seafood products, (iii) suspension of its rebalancing countermeasures under Reg 2025/778 (suspension effective 7 August 2025), (iv) expected energy offtake of $750bn (LNG, oil, nuclear) through 2028, (v) at least $40bn in US AI chip purchases, and (vi) facilitation of $600bn in additional EU corporate investment into the US through 2028. Effective from 1 September 2025, the US applies MFN-only treatment (no 15% top-up) to: aircraft and parts, generic pharmaceuticals and ingredients, chemical precursors, cork, and certain unavailable natural resources. The framework is not legally binding but anchors the bilateral architecture; it is the largest-economy ART-programme deal alongside US-UK, US-Japan, US-Korea, US-Taiwan, and US-Indonesia.

On 5 March 2025 the European Commission adopted Communication COM(2025) 95 final, the "Industrial Action Plan for the European Automotive Sector", a horizontal sectoral industrial-policy framework structured around five pillars: innovation and digitalisation, clean mobility, competitiveness and supply-chain resilience, skills and the social dimension, and a global level playing field. Headline financial commitments include EUR 1bn under Horizon Europe for SDV/AI in mobility (2025-2027), EUR 1.8bn Innovation Fund earmark for EU battery cell manufacturing, EUR 350m for next-generation battery R&D (2025-2027), and EUR 570m under the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility (2025-2026) for heavy-duty charging corridors. The plan also delivers a targeted CO2-standards flexibility allowing 2025-2027 combined-year compliance for cars and vans, and the launch of the European Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Alliance.