Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2665 actions· ✨ 90 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.

Brazil's GECEX (237th ordinary meeting, 28 May 2026) imposed definitive anti-dumping duties for up to five years on imports of textured polyester filament yarns (fios de poliéster texturizados) originating from China. The resolution simultaneously suspends the collection of the duty under a public-interest exception, opening a formal public-interest evaluation process; the duty is therefore on the books but not currently collected. The measure concludes a new investigation launched in July 2024 by DECOM at the request of Abrafas (Brazilian Association of Artificial and Synthetic Fibre Products), itself initiated because the predecessor measure (GECEX nº 385/2022) expired in August 2024 after its five-year term.

India and New Zealand signed their first bilateral Free Trade Agreement on 27 April 2026 in New Delhi. New Zealand grants duty-free access to 100% of Indian exports from day one, while India eliminates tariffs on ~95% of New Zealand exports — covering kiwifruit, apples, meat, wool, coal and forestry products — with core dairy (butter, cheese) carved out and milk albumins receiving a 50% tariff cut under quota. Negotiations launched in March 2025 and were concluded in 9 months. The package includes a NZ commitment to invest USD 20 billion in India over 15-20 years and ~5,000 annual Indian work visas for IT, engineering, healthcare, education, construction, traditional medicine, yoga and culinary professions; bilateral trade is targeted to double to USD 5 billion within five years. The agreement is signed but not yet in force pending ratification.

Presidential decree signed by President Claudia Sheinbaum and published in the evening edition of the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 23 April 2026, in force 24 April 2026. The decree amends the Tariff of the Ley de los Impuestos Generales de Importación y de Exportación (LIGIE/TIGIE) and the Decreto que establece diversos Programas de Promoción Sectorial (PROSEC), imposing MFN import duties at 5%, 10%, 15%, 25%, 30% or 35% ad valorem on 185 tariff fractions covering chemical products, cosmetics, paper and cardboard, textiles, steel, graphic arts, aluminum manufactures, auto parts, electrical material, bicycles, musical instruments, furniture, wind turbines, and trailers. Goods originating in countries with which Mexico has a free-trade agreement remain eligible for preferential treatment, so practical incidence falls on China and other non-FTA suppliers (Korea, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Brazil, Indonesia, Taiwan, UAE, South Africa). Paired PROSEC modifications add tariff fractions to Article 5 sections I, II.b and XIX (electrical, electronic, automotive and auto-parts industries) at exempt (EX) rates.

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.

Decreto No. 17-2026, published in La Gaceta No. 37,081 on 27 February 2026, enacts the Ley de Reactivación Económica y Desarrollo Humano — an omnibus statute establishing extraordinary, exceptional, and temporarily-scoped fiscal and financial measures to stimulate economic activity across Honduras's principal productive sectors: export manufacturing (textiles-apparel, automotive-harnesses), agribusiness, tourism, and micro-small-and-medium enterprises (MIPYMES). The law is administered by SAR (Servicio de Administración de Rentas), SDE (Secretaría de Desarrollo Económico), and SEFIN, and operationalises the post-2024-election Castro-administration economic-reactivation legislative agenda alongside companion Decreto No. 2-2026 (RIT five-period extension, La Gaceta No. 37,065). The statute's explicitly temporary and extraordinary character distinguishes it from permanent-regime instruments; its multi-sector coverage spans Honduras's USD 30bn+ GDP economy.

On 19 February 2026 Presidents Trump and Prabowo finalised the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) between the United States and Indonesia. The deal locks the US reciprocal tariff on Indonesian imports at 19% (down from the 32% threatened in April 2025), with 0% on a defined list of products and a textile/apparel quota benchmarked to US-cotton/MMF inputs. Indonesia commits to remove export restrictions on all industrial commodities — explicitly including critical minerals across the full value chain — and to grant US investors national treatment in mineral exploration, mining, processing and export. Indonesia also agrees to eliminate tariff barriers on >99% of US-origin goods, while a Freeport-McMoRan MOU extends the Grasberg copper-mine licence (~USD 10bn/yr revenue, world's 2nd largest copper mine) and a parallel commercial package totalling ~USD 33bn (energy USD 15bn, aerospace incl. Boeing USD 13.5bn, agriculture USD 4.5bn) is signed alongside.

On 9 February 2026 USTR Ambassador Jamieson Greer and Bangladesh Adviser Sheikh Bashir Uddin signed the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) between the United States and Bangladesh in Washington DC — USTR's first ART signing in South Asia, preceding the US-India interim-trade-framework finalisation by three days. The deal locks the US reciprocal tariff on Bangladesh-originating goods at 19% (down from 35% under the April 2025 IEEPA regime) and establishes a zero-percent mechanism for products on the Annex III aligned- partner list (EO 14346, 5 September 2025). Bangladesh commits to significant preferential market access for US industrial and agricultural goods — including chemicals, machinery, motor vehicles, medical devices, ICT equipment, energy products, soy, dairy, beef, poultry, tree nuts, and fruit — and to eliminating specified non- tariff barriers including acceptance of US Federal motor-vehicle safety and emissions standards, FDA certificates, and prior marketing authorisations for medical devices and pharmaceuticals.

Brazil's federal innovation-financing agency FINEP (Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos), under the MCTI/FNDCT umbrella, published a BRL 300 million (~USD 56.9 million) public call — "Finep Mais Inovação Brasil – Rodada 2 – Cadeias Agroindustriais Sustentáveis" — offering non-repayable economic-subsidy grants for private-sector research, development and innovation projects in sustainable and digital agro-industrial chains, covering food innovation, food and nutritional security, agricultural productivity, and technical textiles. Applicant companies must be Brazilian and may partner with Scientific, Technological and Innovation Institutions (ICTs). Proposals are accepted on a continuous-flow basis until 2026-09-30 18:00 (Brasília time), or earlier if the budget is exhausted.

Decreto No. 2-2026, published in La Gaceta No. 37,065 on 6 February 2026, extends the Honduran Régimen de Importación Temporal (RIT) — a temporary-import regime permitting duty- and VAT-free importation of inputs, machinery and equipment for export-manufacturing operations — by five additional fiscal periods (2026–2030), covering approximately 124 beneficiary companies whose 12-year RIT validity had expired or was about to expire at end-2025. The decree is administered by SDE (Secretaría de Desarrollo Económico), SEFIN/DGEFA, and ADUANAS (Honduran Customs Administration), which issued a system-configuration circular on 10 February 2026 activating recognition of extended validity periods. Honduras's RIT is the principal fiscal-incentive architecture sustaining the country's US$8 bn+ annual maquila-sector exports under CAFTA-DR, and the extension removes an immediate sunset-risk for textile, apparel, automotive-harness and electronics export-manufacturers operating in Honduran free zones.

On 6 February 2026 Presidents Trump and Modi announced a framework for an Interim Trade Agreement that resets the bilateral tariff posture installed in 2025. Two operative instruments: (i) an executive order signed 6 February eliminating, effective 7 February 2026, the additional 25% IEEPA "Russian-oil" duty on Indian imports imposed by EO 14329 (27 August 2025), conditional on India's commitment to cease buying Russian crude and to expand defence cooperation; and (ii) reduction of the EO 14257 reciprocal-tariff rate on India from 25% to 18% on listed product categories (textiles and apparel, leather and footwear, plastics and rubber, organic chemicals, home décor, artisanal products, certain machinery), to take effect on finalisation of the Interim Agreement. India commits to eliminate or reduce tariffs on all US industrial goods and a wide range of agricultural products (DDGs, red sorghum, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruit, soybean oil, wine, spirits) and to purchase >USD 500bn of US energy, ICT, coal, aircraft and aircraft parts, and precious-metals products over five years. The framework also commits the parties to negotiating "robust, ambitious, and mutually beneficial digital trade rules" and to addressing non-tariff barriers in medical devices, ICT import licensing, and food/agricultural standards. US tariff reductions on Indian generic pharmaceuticals, gems, diamonds, aircraft parts, and certain automotive components are flagged as contingent on completion of the full Interim Agreement.

Bangladesh's Ministry of Commerce issued the Import Policy Order 2025-2028 on 29 January 2026 following Council of Advisers approval chaired by Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus, replacing the prior Import Policy Order 2021-2024 and establishing a modernised three-year import-management framework under the Imports and Exports (Control) Act 1950. The Order permits export-oriented industries — including ready-made garments, leather, footwear, shipbuilding, and furniture — to import essential raw materials at zero duty through the bonded-warehouse mechanism, mandates full e-customs adoption for all duty and tax collection, and introduces risk-based post-clearance audit protocols. It is explicitly designed as the trade-management vehicle for Bangladesh's LDC graduation (effective November 2026), aligning the import regime with WTO non-tariff- barrier obligations and preparing for the loss of GSP/EBA preferences.

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.

Indonesia's Ministry of Finance imposed a definitive import safeguard duty (Bea Masuk Tindakan Pengamanan / BMTP) on imported cotton woven fabric, covering 16 eight-digit HS codes (5208/5209/5210/5211/5212 cotton-fabric lines), effective 10 January 2026 for three years. The duty follows a KPPI safeguard investigation that found an import surge causing serious injury to Indonesia's domestic weaving industry. The duty is a specific (absolute-rupiah) levy that declines over the three-year term, and 122 countries are exempted subject to certificate-of-origin verification.

Cumhurbaşkanı Kararı No. 10790 (Resmi Gazete 31 December 2025, issue 33124 3rd reprint), in force 1 January 2026, restructures Türkiye's annual import-tariff architecture across 4,344 product lines from non-EU origins. The decree (i) introduces or expands additional customs duty (Ek Mali Yükümlülük / İlave Gümrük Vergisi) of 5%–48% on non-EU imports of iron and non-alloy steel, copper, aluminium, and base-metal household goods; (ii) introduces forward-looking import-surveillance measures across 172 products under 36 notifications, with reference-price floors that cap effective duty relief on under-valued shipments; (iii) updates duties on 324 Customs Tariff Statistical Positions across 21 chapters (219 HS lines raised by 2.4–15 percentage points; 8 lines under HS 7225/7228/8528/8529 raised by 3–14 points; 2 lines reduced by 6 points); (iv) opens duty-free tariff quotas for 35 industrial-product categories — including 27 battery / lithium-cell HS codes through 1 February 2027, 8m m² of plastic-treated textiles through 31 December 2026, and 40,725 tons of organic chemicals and aluminium sheets (16 February–31 December 2026); and (v) imposes a permit regime (6-month validity) on used and refurbished goods. EU and EU-Customs-Union origins remain exempt under A.TR preferential rules; the structural asymmetry vs non-EU partners is the core mechanism. Stated rationale (Ministry of Trade): support domestic production, prevent unfair competition, increase employment, reduce the current-account deficit.

Decree reforming various tariff fractions of the General Import and Export Duties Tariff (TIGIE), published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 29 December 2025 and in force 1 January 2026. The reform, approved by Congress as a statutory amendment to the LIGIE (Chamber of Deputies and Senate, Dec 2025) and signed by President Claudia Sheinbaum, raises MFN import duties to between 5% and 50% ad valorem on 1,463 tariff lines covering more than 20 chapters of the TIGIE, spanning automotive, auto parts, textiles, apparel, footwear, steel, aluminum, plastics, paper, leather, furniture, glass, toys, appliances and cosmetics. The increases apply only to goods originating in countries without a free trade agreement with Mexico — principally China, South Korea, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Brazil, Indonesia, Chinese Taipei, the UAE, and South Africa. The decree formalises at statutory level the September 2024 Sheinbaum executive order placing a 50% duty on finished passenger vehicles from non-FTA states and is framed by the Secretaría de Economía and SHCP as the operational tariff instrument of Plan México (2025-01-21).

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.

On 24 December 2025 China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) jointly issued Order No. 37, the Catalogue for Encouraging Foreign Investment in Industries (2025 Edition), effective 1 February 2026 and replacing the 2022 Edition (issued 26 October 2022). The revised catalogue expands to 1,679 total entries — a net increase of 205 and 303 modified relative to 2022 — split between a nationwide catalogue (619 entries, +100, 131 modified) and a regional catalogue for central/western China, the northeast, and Hainan (1,060 entries, +105, 172 modified). Foreign investors in listed sectors qualify for tariff and tax preferences on imported equipment and other incentives under China's foreign-investment regime. The revision prioritises advanced manufacturing and modern services and steers new entries toward inland and border provinces.

On 9 December 2025, Saudi Arabia's Local Content & Government Procurement Authority (LCGPA) issued the December 2025 batch expansion of its Mandatory List — a binding instrument requiring government entities, state-owned enterprises, and sub-contractors to source listed products exclusively from Saudi domestic manufacturers meeting the LCGPA-defined local-content threshold. The December 2025 expansion brings the list to approximately 1,444 national products across 16 sectors, effective 1 March 2026, with LCGPA targeting a total of approximately 2,000 products by end-2026. The Mandatory List operationalises the demand-side layer of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 / National Industrial Strategy (NIS) industrial-policy stack, directly restricting foreign-supplier access to Saudi annual government-procurement budgets estimated at SAR 500 billion+ across central government, Aramco, PIF-portfolio entities, Ma'aden, SEC, STC, Saudi Post, and Saudi Railway.

Bangladesh Bank's Foreign Exchange Policy Department issued FE Circular No. 46 on 12 November 2025, extending the existing 0.30% special cash-assistance (export subsidy) on net FOB value of readymade garment (RMG) and textile exports — previously payable only to manufacturer-exporters producing in their own factories under FE Circular No. 01/2020 — to output manufactured and exported through sub-contracting arrangements, at the same 0.30% rate and same terms. Eligibility is conditioned on the principal firm holding an operating factory of its own and both parties following the 2019 Sub-Contracting Guideline for the RMG industry and the 2024 rules for direct export-oriented garment establishments operating bonded warehouses; pure trading firms with no production capacity are excluded. The change applies to goods shipped from the circular's issuance date onward.

Bangladesh's Council of Advisers, chaired by Chief Adviser Prof. Muhammad Yunus, approved the National Logistics Policy 2025 on 6 November 2025 at its 47th meeting, replacing the annulled 2024 Awami League-era logistics policy. The framework spans 11 chapters and establishes a technology-driven, integrated, sustainable logistics ecosystem aimed at positioning Bangladesh as a leading regional trade and logistics hub by 2050. Two-tier governance architecture: a National Logistics Council (led by the Chief Adviser) for top-level coordination, and a National Logistics Development and Coordination Committee (led by the Chief Adviser's Principal Secretary) for implementation oversight across multimodal hubs, economic zones, international corridors, airports, river ports, sea ports, and land ports.

Brazil's Câmara de Comércio Exterior (Gecex) approved Resolução nº 815, de 3 de novembro de 2025, amending Annex IV of the base tariff-nomenclature resolution (Gecex nº 272/2021) under the Mercosur supply-shortage tariff-reduction mechanism (Mercosur CMC Resolution nº 49/19). The resolution establishes five new duty-free (0%) temporary import tariff-rate quotas — DHA nutritional preparation (80 metric tons/year), rubber gasket/retainer parts (6,250 kg/year), linen yarn (240 metric tons/year), ballistic steel plate (400 metric tons/year) and loudspeakers (5 million units/year) — valid 7 November 2025 to 6 November 2026, while removing an existing duty-free quota for monocalcium phosphate (NCM 2835.26.00), reverting that line to the standard Mercosur Common External Tariff rate.

China's State Council General Office issued Guobanfa [2025] No. 34 ("Notice on Implementing Domestic Product Standards and Related Policies in Government Procurement") on 28 September 2025, effective 1 January 2026. The notice applies a 20% price deduction to domestic-product bids when evaluating government procurement tenders; suppliers whose domestic-content cost share reaches 80% or more of total product cost get the deduction applied to their entire quoted price rather than only the domestic-content portion. Coverage is economy-wide across the government's Goods Classification Directory (Global Trade Alert separately tagged natural/man-made textile fibres and yarn under this measure), with narrow carve-outs for real estate, cultural relics, agricultural/forestry/fishery products, minerals, utilities, and food/tobacco raw materials. The Ministry of Finance published implementing guidance (Caiku [2025] No. 30) shortly after.

The European Commission adopted Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1063 of 12 May 2026, imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of PET spunbond originating in the People's Republic of China — non-woven needle-punched sheets of polyester filaments, whether or not reinforced by glass fibres, weighing more than 70 g/m2, thickness 0.5-1.8 mm, impregnated with one or more binders, falling under CN codes ex 5603 13 90, 5603 14 20 and ex 5603 14 80. Provisional duties range from 45.6% to 50.0% depending on the exporting producer, entering into force on 14 May 2026 (the day after Official Journal publication) and applying until 13 November 2026, by which date the Commission must decide on definitive measures. The measure follows an investigation initiated on 15 September 2025 (OJ C/2025/5010) pursuant to a complaint lodged on 8 August 2025 by Freudenberg Performance Materials and Johns Manville, alleging that dumped Chinese imports — whose EU market share rose from roughly 0-5% to 15-20% between 2021 and 2024 — caused material injury to Union producers.

Brazil's Câmara de Comércio Exterior (Gecex) approved Resolução nº 788, de 10 de setembro de 2025, amending Annex IV of the base tariff-nomenclature resolution (Gecex nº 272/2021) under the Mercosur supply-shortage tariff-reduction mechanism (Mercosur GMC Resolution nº 49/19). The resolution establishes six new duty-free (0%) temporary import tariff-rate quotas: spray-dry detergent powder (800,000 t/year), vitamin B12 (20 t/year), the cell therapy Tisagenlecleucel (48 units), sulphur black dye (6,000 t/year), elastomultiester bicomponent polyester synthetic filament (1,100 t/year), and high-voltage (345kV-class) electrical cable (1,550 t/year). Quotas run for one year from their individual validity start dates, which range from 15 September 2025 to 22 January 2026 depending on product, granting duty-free entry within volume caps where Mercosur-region supply is judged insufficient.

Brazil's Foreign Trade Executive Committee (GECEX/CAMEX) imposed definitive anti-dumping duties for up to five years on imports of synthetic polyester fibres (NCM 5503.20.90) from China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam, following a petition filed by ABRAFAS (Brazilian Association of Artificial and Synthetic Fibre Producers) in October 2023 and a six-month provisional measure (Resolução Gecex 653/2024) applied from October 2024. Duties are levied as specific tariffs in USD per metric tonne: China residual USD 390.94/t (Zhejiang Hengyi group USD 74.98/t), India USD 194.69/t, Thailand USD 171.21/t, Vietnam USD 297.95/t. Two named exporters — Zhongthai Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd. (Thailand) and Vietnam New Century Polyester Fibre Co., Ltd. (Vietnam) — are explicitly excluded from the measure.

India's DGFT issued Notification No. 24/2025-26 (S.O. 3657(E)) on 11 August 2025, with immediate effect, adding four jute and textile-bast-fibre HS lines — woven jute fabrics (531090), jute twine/cordage/rope (560790, 560890), and jute sacks and bags (630510) — to the list of Bangladesh-origin goods barred from land-port entry into India. Consignments in these categories may now enter only via Nhava Sheva Seaport (Maharashtra); the notification leaves the terms of the prior Notification No. 21/2025-26 (27 June 2025) otherwise unchanged. It is the third in a widening 2025 sequence of DGFT port-routing restrictions on Bangladeshi goods, following Notification No. 07/2025-26 (17 May 2025, targeting RMG and other consumer goods) and Notification No. 21/2025-26.

On 11 August 2025, the President of Russia signed Decree No. 551, "On the Peculiarities of Procurement of Clothing and Equipment for the Needs of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation." From 1 January 2026, uniforms and equipment supplied to the Russian Armed Forces must be produced by Russian organisations with production facilities located on Russian territory; from 1 January 2027 the localisation requirement extends upstream to the fabrics and knitwear inputs themselves, which must also be Russian-made. The measure bars procurement of foreign-made military uniforms and effectively excludes non-Russian apparel manufacturers and textile suppliers from this segment of state defence procurement.

The Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Armenia, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan, approved the 2025-2030 Strategic Plan for Promoting Exports of the Republic of Armenia and its accompanying Action Plan on 31 July 2025. The Strategy targets a 1.7-fold increase in total Armenian exports to USD 16.9 billion by 2030 (USD 10.3 billion services + USD 6.6 billion goods), with an implementation envelope of approximately AMD 98 billion (~USD 250 million). It designates critical minerals (copper-molybdenum concentrates, gold, antimony, emerging rare-earth-element zones), IT and tech services, agri-processing, and green-transition equipment as priority export categories, and operationalises Armenia's ongoing reorientation of export geography away from Russia/EAEU toward EU, US, Gulf, and Asian markets.

India and the UK signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) on 24 July 2025 in Chequers, with Prime Ministers Modi and Starmer presiding. The agreement grants duty-free access on 99% of Indian exports to the UK (textiles, apparel, footwear, auto components, engineering goods and chemicals), and reduces Indian tariffs on UK goods covering ~90% of tariff lines: Scotch whisky duties drop from 150% to 75% on day one and taper to 40% over ten years; high-end UK car tariffs fall from ~110% to 10% under a quota; UK MFN access on a wide industrial-goods envelope. A Double Contribution Convention exempts Indian secondees from UK National Insurance for three years. Bilateral trade currently ~£42 bn / USD 56 bn per year, with the parties targeting doubling by 2030. UK ratification under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (CRaG) ran from January 2026, with the 21-sitting-day scrutiny period concluding 5 March 2026. Entry into force was delayed from the originally targeted May 2026 date and is now confirmed for July 15, 2026 following a UK Prime Minister announcement at the G7 Évian summit sidelines on June 17, 2026. The confirmed EIF covers 64% of UK exports (£1.9bn) duty-free immediately, with an additional £25.5bn/year in projected additional bilateral trade.

Pakistan's National Tariff Commission (NTC) issued a final determination in anti-dumping case ADC-65, imposing a definitive 13.84% average ad valorem duty on imports of Polyester Filament Yarn — Drawn Textured Yarn (PFY-DTY, HS 5402.33) originating from the People's Republic of China. The investigation, initiated on petitions from domestic producers Gatron Industries Limited and Rupali Polyester Limited, found injurious dumping of Chinese PFY-DTY causing material injury to Pakistan's domestic polyester-yarn industry. Provisional duties of a lower rate were first imposed on 15 November 2024 for a four-month period; the higher definitive rate was confirmed and published in the final determination notice of 19 June 2025.

Pakistan's Federal Cabinet approved the National Tariff Policy 2025-30 (NTP 2025-30) in June 2025, with operative tariff reforms incorporated into the Finance Act 2025 effective 1 July 2025. The NTP restructures Pakistan's customs duty (CD) slab architecture from five slabs (0/3/11/16/20%) to four flatter slabs (0/5/10/15%) by FY2029-30, while phasing out Regulatory Duties (RDs) and Additional Customs Duties (ACDs) on 7,000+ tariff lines over four to five years. The policy targets cutting the trade-weighted average tariff from ~10.6% to below 6% and the simple-average tariff from 19% to 9.5% by 2030, underpinned by GTAP projections of 10–14% export growth and 5–6% import growth. Prepared in coordination with IMF technical assistance under the USD 7 billion EFF, the NTP is the statutory anchor for the sequence of Finance-Act SRO-based sectoral tariff revisions covering textiles/MMF, iron-and-steel, and chemicals/intermediates through FY2029-30.

India's DGFT issued Notification No. 07/2025-26 on 17 May 2025, with immediate effect, restricting the entry points through which Bangladesh goods may be imported into India. All ready-made garments (RMG) from Bangladesh are barred from land ports entirely and may enter only via Nhava Sheva and Kolkata seaports; processed food, rubber and plastic goods, and wooden furniture are barred from Land Customs Stations (LCSs) and Integrated Check Posts (ICPs) in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, and at Changrabandha and Fulbari in West Bengal. The notification is widely read as a retaliatory measure responding to Bangladesh's April 2025 NBR land-port yarn-import ban, and is the first bilateral India-Bangladesh trade-restriction instrument filed in the IPTM register.

Bangladesh Bank's Foreign Exchange Policy Department issued Circular No. 14 of 20 April 2025, amending paragraph 26, Chapter 7 of the Guidelines for Foreign Exchange Transactions, 2018 (GFET-2018) to liberalise import-LC discrepancy-handling procedures. Authorised Dealers (AD banks) may now settle discrepant import bills against importer-issued indemnity-and-waiver letters without prior Bangladesh Bank approval, provided discrepancies do not contravene UCP-600 or constitute material changes as defined in GFET-2018 para 31(c). The same treatment is extended to back-to-back import LCs under the export-oriented bonded-warehouse and EPZ regime, directly benefiting Bangladesh's garment-manufacturing sector in settling raw-material import payments against export-LC proceeds.

Bangladesh's National Board of Revenue, acting on a March 2025 Ministry of Commerce directive, issued a notification on 13 April 2025 prohibiting yarn imports through all land-border customs stations, including Benapole, Bhomra, Banglabandha, Burimari, and Sonamasjid. Imports of yarn may continue only through seaports and airports. The stated rationale is systematic under-invoicing of land-port yarn shipments — declared values were found significantly below Chattogram customs-house benchmark prices — which NBR and the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission concluded was severely damaging domestic spinning-mill competitiveness. The restriction is the first BD import-restrictive measure in the IPTM register and triggered India's retaliatory DGFT Notification 07/2025-26 of 17 May 2025 restricting entry of Bangladeshi exports into India.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed Decree No. UP-47 on 14 March 2025, introducing export duties on 86 categories of goods to incentivise domestic processing of strategic raw materials and align Uzbekistan's trade policy with WTO norms. The measure replaces the existing system of export permits for many commodities with ad-valorem duties, phased in across three tranches (June 2025, July 2025, January 2026 and January 2028). Headline rates include 100% on cotton lint, scrap metal, flour and rice; 30% on wheat and meat; and 10-20% on copper, polymers and natural gas — a dual-purpose instrument combining food-security supply controls with industrial-policy downstreaming incentives.

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/778 of 14 April 2025, adopted under Regulation (EU) No 654/2014 (the EU enforcement regulation for international trade rights), reinstates the EU's 2018 and 2020 commercial rebalancing measures against the United States and adds new countermeasures in response to the second Trump administration's 10 February 2025 Section 232 proclamations, which restored a universal 25% tariff on steel imports and raised the aluminium tariff to 25% effective 12 March 2025 (filed as 2025-02-11-us-section-232-steel-aluminum-global-tariff-reinstatement). The combined package targets approximately €26 billion of EU imports from the United States — matching the scope of US measures affecting EU exports — and combines the reinstatement of pre-existing duties on a first tranche of products (steel, aluminium, agricultural goods, motorcycles, and other industrial items originally subject to the 2018 and 2020 lists) with new duties on roughly €18 billion of additional US-origin goods spanning poultry, beef, certain seafood, nuts, eggs, dairy, sugar and vegetables on the agricultural side, and steel, aluminium, textiles, leather, appliances, plastics and wood products on the industrial side. Tariff rates layer onto MFN duties at up to 50% for some products, mirroring the structure of the 2018 measures. On the same day the Commission published Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/786, which suspends application of Articles 2 and 3 of 2025/778 for 90 days, until 14 July 2025, to allow space for bilateral negotiations following the US 9 April 2025 announcement of a 90-day pause on its own reciprocal-tariff regime (2025-04-02-us-trump-reciprocal-tariff-regime). The legal scaffolding therefore exists and is in force, but no duties were collected during the suspension window. This is the first standalone EU rebalancing instrument adopted against the United States in the second Trump administration and the first major use of Reg 654/2014 since the 2018-2020 Section 232 episode.

The Government of Karnataka, Department of Industries and Commerce, notified the Karnataka Industrial Policy 2025-30 in the Karnataka Gazette on 11 February 2025, with the policy taking legal effect from 8 February 2025 and valid for five years (or until superseded). It supersedes the prior Karnataka Industrial Policy 2020-25. The umbrella state-level framework targets ₹7.5 lakh crore (~USD 90 bn) in fresh investment and 20 lakh (2 million) new jobs by 2030, positioning Karnataka as a top-Asia destination for high-technology manufacturing — semiconductors, EVs, aerospace, defence, biotech, medical devices, textiles and renewable energy. It introduces zone-based incentive categorisation (Zone 1/2/3 district classification), capital subsidies, stamp-duty exemption, electricity-tax exemption, interest subsidy, ESDM-specific top-up incentives that layer onto central PLI/ECMS/Semicon Mission schemes, and a Cabinet Sub-Committee under the Chief Minister to sanction bespoke "Anchor Investor" and "Mega/Ultra-Mega" customised incentive packages.

President Claudia Sheinbaum's government published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 19 Dec 2024 a decree amending the General Import & Export Tax Law (TIGIE) and the IMMEX Decree. The decree imposes a 35% temporary import duty on 138 finished-apparel tariff lines (Chapters 61, 62, 63 plus tariff item 9404.40.01) and a 15% duty on 17 textile-input tariff lines (Chapters 52, 55, 58, 60), totalling 155 fractions. Concurrently, 302 tariff fractions in Chapters 61/62/63 are removed from IMMEX duty-deferral eligibility (moved out of Annex II Section C into Annex I). The measure exempts countries with which Mexico has an FTA (notably USMCA partners) and is in force from 20 Dec 2024 until 23 Apr 2026.

Regulation (EU) 2024/3015 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2024 establishes the first EU-wide binding prohibition on placing, making available on, or exporting from the EU single market any products made with forced labour at any stage of production, manufacture, harvest, extraction or processing. The regulation is cross-sector and horizontal — no sectoral exemptions apply. It entered into force on 13 December 2024, with a phased implementation schedule; procedural and institutional framework provisions apply from 13 December 2024, while full operational application begins on 14 December 2027. The regulation empowers national competent authorities (and the Commission for state-imposed forced-labour cases involving third countries) to investigate, require withdrawal, and order destruction of non-compliant goods, and establishes a Commission-maintained publicly accessible database of high-risk geographic areas, sectors, and products.

Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), replaces the 2009 Ecodesign Directive with a cross-cutting product-sustainability framework covering nearly all physical goods placed on the EU single market. It empowers the Commission to adopt binding delegated acts setting ecodesign requirements (durability, reparability, recyclability, recycled content, chemical restrictions, energy and resource efficiency) by product category, establishes a mandatory Digital Product Passport (DPP) for supply-chain traceability, and bans the destruction of unsold consumer products. The regulation entered into force on 18 July 2024; the Commission's first ESPR and Energy Labelling Working Plan (2025–2030, COM(2025) 187) was adopted in April 2025, prioritising textiles, furniture, tyres, electronics, and iron/steel/aluminium.

On 17 May 2024 the US Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF), chaired by DHS, published the largest single expansion of the UFLPA Entity List to date, adding 26 PRC-based companies (89 FR 43365). The majority are cotton traders and warehouse operators located outside the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) but identified as downstream conduits laundering XUAR-origin cotton into global supply chains. Under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act's rebuttable-presumption (§2(d)(2)(B)(v)), goods wholly or in part produced by any listed entity are presumed to violate 19 U.S.C. §1307 and are barred from US entry unless the importer demonstrates by clear and convincing evidence that no forced labour was involved. US apparel brands with exposure to the listed traders (Levi's, Gap, PVH/Calvin Klein sourcing chains) were required to trace and unwind that exposure within 60 days.

Moldova's Cabinet of Ministers approved Government Decision HG 280/2024 on 17 April 2024, adopting the National Industrial Development Programme 2024-2028 (Programul Național de Dezvoltare Industrială pentru 2024-2028). The programme sets a manufacturing GDP-share target from 8.2% (2023 baseline) to 11.5% by 2028 and at least 25% industrial-production volume growth, with priority given to six sectors: electronics, chemical-pharmaceutical, auto-components, textiles, construction materials, and food industry. It operationalises Moldova's EU-candidacy industrial-alignment commitments under the EU Reform and Growth Facility (€1.9bn 2024-2027 envelope) and the national development strategy European Moldova 2030. A Regional State Aid Scheme for Investments — launched January 2025 under HG 280/2024 — provides grants covering up to 60% (large/medium enterprises) or 75% (small enterprises) of qualifying investments above a MDL 10 million threshold, combined with a 75% income-tax exemption, targeting approximately 150 enterprises with ~€100 million in total state aid through 2034.

On 21 March 2024, President William Ruto formally launched Kenya's Fourth Medium Term Plan 2023-2027 (MTP IV) at State House Nairobi, the final five-year implementation plan under the Kenya Vision 2030 blueprint. MTP IV is the operational vehicle for the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), the Ruto administration's foundational industrial-policy and value-chain framework. The plan organises Kenya's industrial-policy push around five core BETA pillars and nine value chains: agro-processing (incl. edible-oil crops, leather, dairy, tea), textiles and apparel, housing and settlement, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, digital superhighway and creative economy, manufacturing (incl. automotive and EV motorcycle and vehicle assembly), MSME and cooperative sector strengthening, and blue-economy/natural-resource value addition. Implementation is anchored in County Aggregation and Industrial Parks (CAIPs) across all 47 counties and in the County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs). MTP IV is the umbrella framework shaping Kenya's domestic industrial-incentive architecture, foreign-investment priorities, and AfCFTA positioning over 2023-2027. Subsequent sectoral instruments — including the Mining Royalty Collection and Management Regulations 2024 — operate within this policy perimeter. This is the first KE foundational industrial-policy filing in the register.

Three-year export-promotion policy issued by the Bangladesh Ministry of Commerce on 25 February 2024 covering FY2024-25 through FY2026-27. Sets a $110bn merchandise+services export target by FY2026-27 (vs. ~$56bn FY2023-24 base), restructures the cash-incentive regime, and designates "highest priority" and "special development" sectors including ready-made garments, leather, jute, ICT, pharmaceuticals, agro-processing, light engineering, and plastics. Explicitly designed as the transition framework for navigating Bangladesh's LDC graduation (effective 24 November 2026), at which point the country will lose EU Everything-But-Arms duty-free access and face an estimated 10% average MFN tariff on EU exports.

Canada's Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act (S.C. 2023, c. 9; "Bill S-211") received Royal Assent on 11 May 2023 and entered into force on 1 January 2024. It imposes a binding annual supply-chain disclosure obligation on government institutions and in-scope private-sector entities (any two of: ≥CAD 20m assets, ≥CAD 40m revenue, ≥250 employees) requiring a public report by 31 May each year detailing steps taken to prevent and reduce the risk of forced or child labour in their supply chains. The Act also amends the Canadian Customs Tariff (Schedule 9898.00.00) to extend the existing import prohibition on goods produced with forced labour to also cover goods produced with child labour, enforced at the border by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). Criminal penalties of up to CAD 250,000 apply for non-compliance, false reporting, or obstruction.

Bangladesh's Cabinet approved the National Industrial Policy 2022 on 11 August 2022, replacing the National Industrial Policy 2016 as the country's foundational umbrella industrial-policy statute; the Ministry of Industries gazetted it on 29 September 2022. The policy sets a target to raise industry's share of GDP to 40% by 2027 and introduces a sector taxonomy covering export-diversification, special-development (electronics, automotive assembly, semiconductors, renewable energy, defence-electronics), priority, reserved, and controlled categories. CMSMEs (Cottage, Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises) are designated the "main driving force of industrialisation," with sector-specific concessional finance, tax holidays, and cluster-development frameworks, alongside FDI incentives including Bangladeshi citizenship for investors committing USD 1 million. The policy for the first time formally incorporates Bangladesh's informal sector within a national industrial-policy framework, mandating a National Informal Sector Database and a 2022–2027 implementation action plan.

Canada amended the Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations via SOR/2022-102, registered 18 May 2022, adding Schedule 6 (luxury goods) and Schedule 7 (goods usable in weapons production/manufacturing) to the list of items prohibited for export to, and in Schedule 6's case also import from, Russia. Both schedules took effect 60 days after registration (17 July 2022). Schedule 6 covers luxury alcohol, tobacco, textiles, footwear, clothing, jewellery, kitchenware, art, and some machinery; Schedule 7 covers raw materials (including tungsten and aluminium), pumps, vehicle parts, construction equipment, watercraft, and medical/dental/surgical equipment. The regulation also added 14 individuals to the Schedule 1 asset-freeze list.

Russian Government Resolution No. 506 of 29 March 2022, signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and effective 30 March 2022, authorises the Ministry of Industry and Trade (Minpromtorg) to designate categories of goods exempt from articles 1252(4), 1359(6) and 1487 of the Russian Civil Code on national/regional exhaustion of trademark and other intellectual- property rights. Followed by Minpromtorg Order No. 1532 of 19 April 2022 publishing an initial list of 55 goods categories and named brands — including pharmaceuticals, electronics, automotive parts, mineral fuels, industrial chemicals, paper, textiles, base metals, and consumer goods — for which parallel (grey-market) imports without IP-holder consent are legalised. Designed as a sanctions-circumvention and supply-substitution instrument after the Western corporate exodus of March 2022; extended annually and most recently re-authorised through 31 December 2026.

Mexico's Ley de Comercio Exterior (Foreign Trade Act, LCE), published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 27 July 1993 and entering into force 28 July 1993, is the foundational statute governing Mexico's entire external trade regulatory architecture. The LCE establishes the legal authority for the SECOFI/SE-administered antidumping (AD), countervailing duty (CVD), and safeguard investigation regime (Titles V–VII); the TIGIE tariff-schedule and tariff-classification framework; the IMMEX maquila and PROSEC sectoral-promotion programs; rules of origin for USMCA and other preferential trade agreements; and Mexico's export- licensing and strategic-material restriction framework. The LCE has been amended repeatedly through 2021 and remains the overarching parent authority for all Mexican trade-remedy proceedings administered by UPCI (Unidad de Prácticas Comerciales Internacionales) under the Secretaría de Economía.