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

METI certified a Supply Security Plan (供給確保計画) filed by DIC Corporation under Japan's Economic Security Promotion Act, designating epoxy resin used in semiconductor packaging/encapsulation as a "specified critical good" material input. The certification (plan no. 2025-semicon-2-1, approved 31 July 2025) qualifies DIC for a grant of up to JPY 3 billion (~USD 20.1 million) toward a new epoxy-resin plant at its Chiba (Ichihara) factory, targeting roughly a 59% increase in domestic production capacity for semiconductor-grade epoxy resin, with supply starting July 2029.

METI certified a Supply Security Plan (供給確保計画) filed by JX Metals (JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation, now JX Advanced Metals) under Japan's Economic Security Promotion Act, designating copper-based sputtering targets used in semiconductor wiring as a "specified critical good." The certification (plan no. 2025-semicon-1-1, approved 18 July 2025) is the first in the 2025 semiconductor tranche and qualifies JX Metals for a grant of up to JPY 2.2 billion (~USD 14.8 million) toward roughly JPY 6.6 billion of capex expanding sputtering-target production capacity at its Hitachinaka (Ibaraki Prefecture) plant.

Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) signed a loan agreement on 2025-07-11 for approximately USD 46 million with MGC Pure Chemicals America, Inc. (MPCA), the US subsidiary of Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company. Co-financed alongside Bank of Yokohama, Hachijuni Bank, and Joyo Bank, the total co-financing package reaches USD 77 million. Proceeds fund expansion of MPCA's Arizona production capacity for ultra-pure hydrogen peroxide and ultra-pure ammonium hydroxide — semiconductor-grade chemicals used for silicon-wafer cleaning and etching — as JBIC states, to strengthen Japanese supply-chain resilience and support US semiconductor manufacturing demand. This is MPCA's second JBIC-backed expansion loan, following a USD 36 million (JBIC portion) facility signed in April 2024 for the same production line.

Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) signed a loan agreement on 2025-06-30 for up to approximately USD 626 million (JBIC portion) with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Co-financed with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the total co-financing package reaches approximately USD 1,044 million. Proceeds fund Mitsui's investment in Blue Point Number One, LLC, a low-carbon ammonia production facility under construction in Louisiana using CCS technology to cut over 95% of process CO2 emissions. JBIC frames the loan against Japan's Basic Hydrogen Strategy, Seventh Strategic Energy Plan, and GX2040 Vision, which treat hydrogen and its derivatives as key decarbonization energy sources requiring policy-bank-mobilized capital.

Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) signed a loan agreement on 2025-06-30 for USD 180 million (JBIC portion) with Toray Composite Materials America, Inc. (CMA), the US subsidiary of Toray Industries, Inc. Co-financed with Mizuho Bank and seven other Japanese financial institutions, the total co-financing package reaches USD 300 million. Proceeds fund CMA's manufacturing and sale of carbon fiber for high-pressure gas tanks used in hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles (FCVs), which JBIC states supports maintaining and improving the international competitiveness of Japan's carbon fiber industry and strengthening supply-chain resilience.

Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) signed the fifth investment credit line agreement with Bangkok Mitsubishi HC Capital Co., Ltd., the Thai subsidiary of Mitsubishi HC Capital Inc., announced 2025-06-27 (JBIC's Japanese-language press release is dated 2025-06-30). JBIC's own portion is USD 10 million, part of roughly USD 14 million in total co-financing with private financial institutions. The facility funds equipment finance leases that Bangkok Mitsubishi HC Capital extends to Thailand-based subsidiaries of Japanese small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs), supporting their overseas business expansion. Previous iterations of this same credit line were signed in 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2023.

Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Japan's state export-credit and outbound-investment finance institution, signed a loan agreement on 2025-06-27 providing USD 252 million toward a syndicated facility for White Eagle Energy Limited, a Cyprus-registered special-purpose vehicle wholly owned by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL). Co-lenders are Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank. The facility finances White Eagle's acquisition of a newly built floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) — Poland's first — which will be chartered to Operator Gazociągów Przesyłowych GAZ-SYSTEM S.A., Poland's state-owned gas transmission operator, under a leasing/operation/maintenance arrangement.

Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) signed a loan agreement on 2025-06-26 for up to USD 240 million with UBE C1 Chemicals America, Inc. (UCCA), a US subsidiary of UBE Corporation. Co-financed alongside MUFG Bank, Mizuho Bank, and The Norinchukin Bank, the total co-financing package reaches USD 400 million. Proceeds fund a new UCCA manufacturing facility for dimethyl carbonate (DMC) and ethyl methyl carbonate (EMC) — organic solvents used in automotive lithium-ion batteries — which JBIC and Louisiana economic-development officials describe as the first domestic US production source for these chemicals, which are currently entirely imported.

Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Japan's state export-credit and outbound-investment finance institution, signed a loan agreement on 2025-06-23 providing up to JPY 3 billion (USD 20.48 million) to TAIYO KOKO MALAYSIA SDN. BHD. (TKMSB), the Malaysian subsidiary of Taiyo Koko Co., Ltd., a Hyogo-based Japanese SME non-ferrous metals smelter. The loan is part of a JPY 9.2 billion syndicated facility co-financed with eight Japanese private banks (SMBC, MUFG, Kyoto Bank, Iyo Bank, Resona Bank, Chugoku Bank, Hiroshima Bank, Fukui Bank) and funds a plant in Pahang State, Malaysia that separates and recovers molybdenum and vanadium from spent desulfurization catalysts collected from petroleum refineries.

Japan's first standalone AI statute (Law No. 53) was promulgated 4 June 2025 and became fully effective 1 September 2025, when chapters establishing the Artificial Intelligence Strategic Headquarters — chaired by the Prime Minister with all Cabinet ministers as members — entered into force. The Act adopts an innovation-first, non-punitive framework: it imposes no monetary penalties and relies on cooperative and reputational compliance mechanisms rather than mandatory requirements. An AI Basic Plan, adopted by Cabinet decision on 23 December 2025, translates the statutory mandate into cross-ministry R&D and deployment targets.

Japan's government, acting through the "Comprehensive Countermeasures Headquarters for US Tariff Measures" (established after the April 2025 Trump reciprocal-tariff announcement), decided on 27 May 2025 to draw JPY 388.1 billion from FY2025 budget reserves for tariff-cushioning relief. JPY 288.1 billion reactivates the electricity and city-gas bill subsidy (JPY 2/kWh electricity, JPY 8/m3 city gas) for July-September 2025 usage, cutting an average household's summer utility bill by roughly JPY 3,000. The remaining JPY 100 billion funds increased subsidies to local governments supporting businesses' electricity and LPG costs and expanded funding support to SMEs via government-backed lenders. METI issued special retail-tariff authorizations to electric and city-gas utilities on 25 June 2025 to implement the July-September discount.

Japan's National Diet passed a partial amendment to the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Act (PMD Act / 薬機法) on May 14, 2025, promulgated as Law No. 37 of 2025 on May 21. The amendment requires every Marketing Authorization Holder (MAH) to designate a Supply System Manager responsible for reporting supply disruptions to MHLW, and grants MHLW authority to order replacement of key quality personnel when systemic deficiencies are found. It also reforms GMP oversight to a risk-based inspection model and expands the conditional-approval pathway for rare disease and paediatric drugs. Enforcement is staggered across three tranches: November 2025, May 2026, and final full implementation by May 2027.

On 2025-04-30, Japan's METI certified a supply-assurance plan (certification no. 2025永久磁石第1号-1) under the Economic Security Promotion Act (ESPA) for Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. and its foreign subsidiary Shin-Etsu Magnetic Materials Vietnam, covering "permanent magnets" as a designated specified critical material. The certified plan's stated goal is introducing rare-earth-recovery recycling equipment to process end-of-life magnets, with a disclosed maximum subsidy of approximately JPY 3.7 billion (~USD 25.94 million). The certification is one of a running series of magnet-sector ESPA supply plans METI has approved since 2022.

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) overhauled the catch-all export-control framework under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act (FEFTA) — the first comprehensive review of Japan's catch-all controls in 12 years (since 2013). Cabinet decisions were taken on 25 March 2025 and 4 April 2025 with METI's consolidated announcement on 9 April 2025; the amended Cabinet Order entered into force on 9 October 2025. The reform (i) splits catch-all-controlled items into "core items" (high dual-use risk, including certain semiconductors and machine tools) and a general catch-all tier, (ii) adds a new end-user requirement alongside the existing end-use requirement and extends both from UN-arms-embargo countries only to "general countries" (everywhere outside Group A), materially expanding the perimeter of items requiring METI export licences for general-country end-users including China, and (iii) introduces an "informed" condition for exports to Group A countries — once METI notifies an exporter of a defined risk pattern, a Group A export becomes licence-required, addressing transit-export-circumvention to Russia. Structurally distinct from the 23-category equipment-specific 2023 amendment (2023-03-31-japan-meti-semi-equipment-export-controls); this is the underlying horizontal catch-all reform and brings Japan's framework closer to US BIS EAR catch-all controls.

Japan's Cabinet approved an amendment to the Cabinet Order on Inward Direct Investment under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act (FEFTA) on 1 April 2025; the order was promulgated 4 April 2025 and entered into force 19 May 2025. The amendment introduces two new investor categories — Type-A (investors legally or contractually obligated to share information with foreign governments) and Type-B (investors effectively in a comparable position without formal legal obligation) — and eliminates or narrows exemptions from mandatory prior-notification screening for both categories. The primary driver is concern over minority-stake acquisitions by Chinese investors in Japanese listed companies operating in sensitive sectors including cloud computing, telecommunications infrastructure, semiconductor equipment, and advanced electronics. The reform is structurally distinct from the outbound FEFTA catch-all controls overhaul (2025-10-09) and from the Economic Security Promotion Act (2022-05-18); it is the inbound FDI-screening complement to that framework.

Japan's National Diet enacted the Cyber Response Capability Enhancement Act (重要電子計算機に対する不正な行為による被害の防止に関する法律, Law No. 42 of 2025) on 16 May 2025, together with companion arrangement legislation. Commonly known as the Active Cyber Defense (ACD) Law, the statute authorises (i) government monitoring of foreign-origin internet traffic transiting designated Japanese communication infrastructure for national-security threat indicators, (ii) pre-emptive access and neutralisation operations against attacker infrastructure abroad by the National Police Agency and the Self-Defense Forces under unified command, and (iii) mandatory cyber-incident reporting and government cooperation duties on critical-infrastructure operators. Implementation is phased through November 2027, with the NISC reorganised into the National Cybersecurity Office (NCO) under the Cabinet Secretariat from July 2025.

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) revised its Foreign End-User List, the reference list of foreign organisations for which concern cannot be eliminated regarding involvement in the development of weapons of mass destruction and missiles, used to support catch-all export-licence requirements. The revision added 42 entities, taking the list to 748 entities from 15 countries and regions, and applies from 5 February 2025.

The Diet enacted on 31 May 2024 (promulgated 7 June 2024 as Law No. 45 of 2024) the "Act on Partially Amending the Act on Strengthening Industrial Competitiveness and Other Acts to Create New Business and Encourage Investment in Industries". The provisions establishing Japan's first US IRA-style production-and-sales-linked tax credit took effect 2 September 2024 per METI's press release of the same date. Eligible enterprises with a METI-certified business plan can claim tax deductions tied to domestic production-and-sales volume of five designated strategic products: electric vehicles, green steel, green chemicals, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and semiconductors. The credit is available for ten years from certification (certifications must be issued by 31 March 2027), with an annual cap of 40% of corporate tax liability (20% for semiconductors) and a 4-year carry-forward. Eligibility is conditional on meeting wage-growth or capital-investment thresholds in each fiscal year.

Japan's Act on the Promotion of Supply and Utilization of Low-Carbon Hydrogen and its Derivatives for a Smooth Transition to a Decarbonized, Growth-Oriented Economic Structure (the Hydrogen Society Promotion Act) was enacted by the Diet on 17 May 2024, promulgated 24 May 2024, and came into force on 23 October 2024. It is Japan's first legislation specifically targeting hydrogen. The Act establishes a 15-year price-gap Contract-for-Difference (CfD) subsidy backstopping the delivered cost of certified low-carbon hydrogen, ammonia, synthetic methane and synthetic fuels supplied to Japan, plus a "Hub Support" capex grant for shared port/pipeline/storage infrastructure. METI is the competent authority and JOGMEC the implementing agency. Total subsidy envelope is ~3 trillion yen (~USD 20bn) financed via GX Transition Bonds under the 2023 GX Promotion Act.

Japan's National Diet enacted the Act on the Protection and Use of Critical Economic Security Information (重要経済安保情報の保護及び活用に関する法律, Act No. 27 of 2024) on 10 May 2024; it was promulgated on 17 May 2024 and came into full operation on 16 May 2025. The law establishes Japan's first peace-time economic-security clearance regime extending to private-sector employees. It designates "Critical Economic Security Information" (CESI) covering threat-intelligence on critical-infrastructure cyber attacks, regulatory-review information on essential infrastructure, and vulnerability data on critical-product supply chains; mandates Cabinet Office "適性評価" (suitability assessment) for cleared personnel; and imposes criminal penalties of up to five years' imprisonment for unauthorised disclosure. The CESI Act complements the 2022 Economic Security Promotion Act (ESPA), closing the information-protection gap and aligning Japan's framework with Five Eyes and EU partners for joint R&D and dual-use cooperation.

On 5 April 2024 Japan's Cabinet adopted an amendment to the Export Trade Control Order, following a 1 March 2024 Cabinet understanding, extending the export prohibition on goods that strengthen Russia's industrial base. The additional goods span parts of HS chapters 27 (mineral fuels and oils), 28 (inorganic chemicals), 39, 73, 81 (tungsten powder, molybdenum, cobalt, zirconium, rhenium), 82, 84, 85 (including lithium-ion and nickel-metal-hydride batteries), 89 and 90, with the specific goods fixed by ministerial ordinance and notices issued on 10 April. The export ban applies from 17 April 2024. A separate METI notice bans imports of non-industrial diamonds of Russian origin from 10 May 2024, regardless of port of shipment.

On 28 March 2024 the Cabinet Office Committee on National Space Policy adopted Japan's Space Technology Strategy, the country's first national space-industrial roadmap establishing priority technology areas (space transportation, satellites, space science and exploration, shared technologies) and the operating framework for the ¥1 trillion (≈USD 6.4 billion) ten-year Space Strategy Fund jointly managed by JAXA on behalf of METI, MEXT and the Cabinet Office. The Strategy sets headline targets of doubling Japan's space-industry market to ¥8 trillion by the early 2030s and reaching ≈30 launches per year. A METI/MEXT/CAO Basic Policy of 26 April 2024 operationalised the Fund's grant architecture, and JAXA opened the first calls in July 2024. The Strategy is the parent authority for subsequent JAXA Space Strategy Fund grant programmes and is Japan's structural counterpart to the EU Space Act (2025) and US National Space Policy.

METI committed up to 732 billion yen (~US$4.86 billion) in direct subsidies for Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing K.K. (JASM) to build a second wafer fab adjacent to the first JASM facility in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture. Confirmed by METI Minister Ken Saito at the Fab 1 opening ceremony on 24 February 2024, two weeks after TSMC, Sony Semiconductor Solutions, Denso, and Toyota jointly announced the Fab 2 expansion (6 February 2024). Fab 2 will produce 6/7nm and 40nm logic for automotive, industrial, consumer, and HPC end-markets, with combined Fab 1 + Fab 2 capacity exceeding 100,000 12-inch wafers per month. Construction targets year-end 2024; operations target year-end 2027. Combined with the 476 billion yen Fab 1 grant, total JASM subsidies reach ~1.208 trillion yen, the largest single direct manufacturing subsidy in Japanese history. METI conditions require >=10 years of post-startup production and >=50% Japanese-domestic procurement of silicon wafers, materials, and components.

On 28 July 2023 Japan's government decided a further amendment to the Export Trade Control Order under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act, adding goods that contribute to strengthening Russia's industrial base to the existing export prohibition list. The additional goods include passenger vehicles over 1,900cc displacement (gasoline, diesel, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric), stainless-steel drill pipes used in oil and gas drilling, yachts and recreational/sporting vessels, and construction-mineral products (monumental/building stone, gypsum, anhydrite, clays). The measure was gazetted 2 August 2023 and took effect 9 August 2023, aligning Japan's export-control list with equivalent measures other G7 members had already adopted.

The Act on Promotion of a Smooth Transition to a Decarbonized Growth-Oriented Economic Structure (Law No. 46 of 2023), passed by the Diet on 12 May 2023 and promulgated 19 May 2023, establishes Japan's Green Transformation (GX) financing and carbon pricing framework. The government will issue 20 trillion yen in GX Economy Transition Bonds (the world's first sovereign transition bonds) to catalyze 150 trillion yen of public-private decarbonization investment over ten years (2023-2032). Bonds are repaid through a two-pillar carbon pricing system: a GX Emissions Trading Scheme (GX-ETS) launching voluntarily in FY2023, becoming mandatory for emitters >100,000 tCO2/year from FY2026; and a GX-surcharge on fossil fuel importers phased in from FY2028.

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) announced on 31 March 2023 amendments to the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act adding 23 categories of advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment to the export-licensing list. The measure, effective from 23 July 2023, is the Japanese counterpart to the US October 2022 BIS rule (filed: 2022-10-07-us-bis-advanced-ai-chip-controls-china) and the Dutch DUV controls. Items covered span lithography (mostly ArF and KrF), deposition (CVD, ALD, sputtering), etch, and cleaning + advanced inspection — broadly the toolset used at ≤14/16nm logic, advanced DRAM, and advanced 3D NAND. The controls are formally non-discriminatory but in practice capture exports to China; non-China destinations get general licences.

The Act on the Promotion of Ensuring National Security through Integrated Implementation of Economic Measures (Law No. 43 of 2022), enacted 18 May 2022, establishes a four-pillar framework: (1) supply-chain resilience for "specified critical products," (2) security of critical infrastructure, (3) state-backed development of "specified critical technologies," and (4) non-disclosure of nationally sensitive patents. A December 2022 Cabinet Order designated 11 product categories as specified critical products, including semiconductors, storage batteries, permanent magnets, cloud programs, LNG, critical minerals, machine tools, and aircraft parts. Competent ministries must publish stable-supply plans, can fund private-sector surveys, and may provide subsidies to qualifying firms.

METI committed 476 billion yen (~$3.3bn) in direct subsidies covering approximately half the construction cost of Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing K.K. (JASM), a purpose-built joint venture fab at Kikuyo Town, Kumamoto Prefecture. JASM shareholders are TSMC (86.5%), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (6%), Denso (6%), and Toyota Motor (1.5 %). The fab manufactures 12nm, 16nm, 22nm, and 28nm mature-node chips targeting automotive-grade, industrial, and IoT applications. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on 13 April 2022; the facility officially opened on 24 February 2024 and reached commercial production in December 2024. JASM represents Japan's first new leading-edge wafer fab in decades and the largest single foreign direct investment in Japanese manufacturing history.

On 24 February 2022 Japan's Foreign Minister announced sanctions following Russia's recognition of the "Donetsk People's Republic" and "Luhansk People's Republic". Japan suspended visa issuance to and froze assets in Japan of individuals of the two "Republics", prohibited imports from and exports to the two regions, and prohibited the issuance of and transactions in new Russian sovereign debt in primary and secondary markets. The relevant ministries were to proceed with the domestic procedures needed to implement them.

On 5 October 2021, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, jointly with the Ministry of Finance, MEXT and MLIT, published amendments to the Regulatory Notices under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act (FEFTA) adding two new categories to the "Core Business Sectors" subject to mandatory prior-notification FDI screening: metal mining (including mineral exploration vessels and land/underwater survey activity) and manufacturing, repair/maintenance or software for equipment used in metal mining (exploration vessels, marine equipment, excavators, drilling machines). The stated purpose is to secure the stable supply of critical mineral resources including rare earths. The amendment took effect 4 November 2021 after a 30-day transitional period; any inward direct investment of 1% or more in a covered business now requires case-by-case government pre-approval.

Japan's Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act (FEFTA, Act No. 228 of 1 December 1949; 外国為替及び外国貿易法) is the foundational umbrella statute governing the entire modern Japanese economic-statecraft toolkit. Originally a restrictive positive-list regime for foreign-exchange transactions, FEFTA was fundamentally liberalised by the 1980 revision (positive-list to negative-list shift) and again overhauled in 1998 to establish the modern regulatory architecture. Three principal enforcement arms operate under FEFTA: (i) security export controls administered by METI via the Export Trade Control Order and the Foreign Exchange Order (covering the Wassenaar Arrangement, Australia Group, MTCR, NSG, and CWC controlled-items lists plus Japan-specific catch-all controls); (ii) inward FDI screening administered jointly by the Ministry of Finance and sector ministries (prior notification and pre-notification regime, substantially expanded 2019–2020 with Core Business Sectors covering semiconductors, critical minerals, advanced materials, cloud computing, and aerospace added 2021); and (iii) autonomous economic sanctions (asset- freeze and payment-restriction designations against Russia, Iran, DPRK, Myanmar, Belarus, and others via Cabinet Orders made under FEFTA authority). Structurally peer-foundational to the US Trade Expansion Act 1962, US Trade Act 1974, UK SAMLA 2018, CN Export Control Law 2020, and CN Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law 2021 as the G7+CN foundational economic- statecraft statute cluster.