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

Executive Order 14413, signed 22 June 2026, directs a national quantum-computing industrial-policy push: the QC-ADDS effort to deliver large-scale quantum computers to Department of Energy facilities for application development and discovery science, a National Center for Quantum Computing Assessment, an expanded Quantum Information Science and Technology Counterintelligence Protection Team, and a network of National QIST Workforce Development Institutes. It sets staged deadlines (30/60/90/120/180 days) for agency policy alignment, sensor-project identification, QC-ADDS technical specifications, and workforce/supply-chain plans, plus a September 2028 target for next-generation quantum-sensor deployment. Section 9 directs harmonisation of research-security and export-control policy with allies to prevent "countries of concern" from acquiring critical quantum technologies, but the order does not itself impose any new export-control rule. No dollar figures are specified.

On June 8, 2026, the US Department of Defense published its annual update to the Section 1260H Chinese Military Companies (CMIC) list, adding 65 entities (17 new parent companies and 48 subsidiaries), bringing the total to approximately 188–200 designated entities. Major additions span EV and battery manufacturing (BYD, NIO, CATL), consumer internet (Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent), semiconductors (SMIC, YMTC, CXMT), solar (JA Solar, Trina Solar), biotech (BGI Genomics, WuXi AppTec), drones/robotics (DJI, Unitree, RoboSense), and telecoms (TP-Link). Effective June 30, 2026, DoD is prohibited from procuring goods, services, or technology directly from listed entities; effective June 30, 2027, the ban extends to indirect supply-chain procurement through prime contractors and all sub-tiers.

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 26 May 2026 the UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), part of HM Treasury, imposed a £1,000,920.59 monetary penalty on Sabre Global Technologies Limited (SGTL), a UK-registered travel-technology firm, for repeated breaches of UK financial sanctions. SGTL continued to provide Russian carrier Ural Airlines access to its Global Distribution System (GDS) service for seven months after Ural Airlines was designated by the UK in May 2022, and during July–August 2022 actively explored routing payments through a US bank account to avoid detection by its UK bank — the conduct that makes this the **first OFSI penalty issued for a circumvention offence**. At £1,000,921 this is also OFSI's **largest financial-sanctions penalty since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine**, surpassing the prior record (HSF £465k).

On 19 May 2026, Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced a further overhaul of Australia's foreign investment framework under the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975. The package introduces a performance target of processing all low-risk applications within 30 days from 1 January 2027, expands the exemption-certificate regime for repeat low-risk investors, and eliminates approval requirements for certain low-risk transaction types. Countervailing measures tighten the framework: enhanced compliance and enforcement powers are added for avoidance and non-compliance, and screening requirements are explicitly increased for sensitive sectors including critical minerals, critical infrastructure, critical technology, sensitive data, and defence-site-proximate assets.

On 8 May 2026 China's National Health Commission released a public consultation draft proposing material amendments to the 2023 Implementation Rules for the Administrative Regulations on Human Genetic Resources, with a comment deadline of 7 June 2026. The draft narrows the statutory "foreign party" definition to a bright-line 50% equity/voting threshold (excluding VIE-structured entities), restricts "HGR Information" strictly to nucleic-acid sequence data (excluding clinical, imaging, and metabolic data), removes the separate Article 37 security-review requirement for sensitive HGR datasets, and introduces a same-day or next-working-day fast-track confirmation for international clinical trials not involving HGR information export.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved on 5 May 2026 two new semiconductor manufacturing units under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) Phase 1: Crystal Matrix Limited (CML) — India's first GaN-based compound-semiconductor and Mini/Micro-LED display fabrication facility (INR 3,068 crore, Dholera, Gujarat) and Suchi Semicon Private Limited (SSPL) — an OSAT facility for discrete semiconductors (INR 868 crore, Surat, Gujarat). Cumulative investment INR 3,936 crore (~USD 400mn); 2,230 skilled jobs at full ramp. This constitutes the 12th and final batch of ISM Phase 1 approvals, closing the first-phase envelope before ISM 2.0 (filed 2026-02-01) takes over.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative released the 2026 Special 301 Report on 30 April 2026, designating Vietnam as a Priority Foreign Country (PFC) — the most severe category under Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. § 2242). This is the first PFC designation since Ukraine held the status from 2013 through 2015, a gap of approximately 11 years. The PFC designation triggers a statutory 30-day window (expiring ~30 May 2026) within which USTR must decide whether to initiate a Section 301 investigation under 19 U.S.C. § 2412(b)(2)(A), which could lead to tariffs, withdrawal of trade benefits, or other Section 301 enforcement remedies against Vietnam. Separately, the EU was added to the Watch List for the first time, citing AI training-data, geographical-indications, and customs-enforcement concerns.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) Raw Materials Industry Division opened a 30-day public consultation on 28 April 2026 on the Administrative Penalty Discretion Standards Table operationalising the State Council's Rare Earth Management Regulation (Order No. 785, in force 1 October 2024). The draft sets a tiered fines schedule for breaches across the entire mining → smelting → separation → sales value chain — fines up to five times "illegal gains" for production-quota breaches under 10%, escalating to product/equipment confiscation and licence revocation for breaches over 30%. Traceability-reporting failures under MIIT's national rare-earth traceability platform are penalised separately with fines up to ten times illegal gains. Comments close 28 May 2026.

On 26 April 2026, the UAE Cabinet, chaired by Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, approved a four-part industrial-resilience package: (i) a National Industrial Resilience Fund with AED 1 billion (~USD 272m) capital managed by Emirates Development Bank over five years covering food industries, manufacturing, primary metals, mechanical/electrical/chemical industries, pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, advanced technology, and construction — designed to localise over 5,000 critical products and link confirmed procurement demand with targeted financing for local manufacturers; (ii) structural overhaul of the National In-Country Value (ICV) Programme, transitioning it from incentive-based to MANDATORY across federal entities and companies in which the government holds 25% or more; (iii) a National Product Retail Presence Policy strengthening visibility of UAE-manufactured goods in retail and digital channels (Phase 1: bottled water, dairy, eggs, poultry, bread, flour, vegetable oils, seasonal vegetables); and (iv) a National Industrial Data Committee chaired by Hasan Jassim Al Nowais (Undersecretary, MoIAT), with AI-driven forecasting and risk management integrated into industrial-resilience monitoring.

The UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) launched the Sovereign AI Fund on 16 April 2026, a £500 million state-anchored equity vehicle chaired by James Wise (Balderton Capital) and designed to operate at venture-capital speed. The Fund makes direct equity investments in UK-headquartered AI startups and bundles allocations of UK AI Research Resource (AIRR) supercomputer capacity alongside investment tickets; an initial cohort of six startups received up to one million GPU hours each and Callosum received the first equity ticket. The Fund is the principal operational implementation of the AI Opportunities Action Plan (CP 1241, January 2025) compute-and-capability pillar and has a dedicated government portal at sovereignai.gov.uk.

Premier Li Qiang signed State Council Order No. 835 on 13 April 2026 promulgating the "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Countering Foreign States' Unlawful Extraterritorial Jurisdiction" (20 articles), effective on the date of publication. The Regulations are the first State Council–level administrative regulation to operationalise the PRC's framework for identifying and countering foreign extraterritorial measures on a horizontal basis, complementing the 2021 Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law and the March 2025 AFSL implementation regulations. Article 5 establishes a State Council–led inter-agency coordination mechanism; Article 6 vests the State Council legal affairs department (the Ministry of Justice in practice) with authority to identify "improper" foreign extraterritorial measures and to grant exemptions; Article 8 authorises a new Malicious Entity List targeting foreign organisations and individuals that "promote or participate in implementing" such measures, with nine countermeasure categories spanning visa denial, asset freezing, trade restrictions and fines; Article 11 codifies an exemption-application channel under which Chinese persons facing conflicting legal demands may request approval to comply with foreign measures within a defined scope; Article 14 authorises a private right of action for harmed Chinese citizens and organisations to sue parties enforcing such measures; and Article 18 elevates enforcement beyond administrative penalties by referencing potential criminal liability.

On 31 March 2026 the Government of Vietnam issued Decree 96/2026/ND-CP, the principal implementing decree for the Law on Investment 2025 (Law 143/2025/QH15). It takes effect on its signing date and replaces Decree 31/2021/ND-CP, Decree 19/2025/ND-CP and Decree 239/2025/ND-CP — the first comprehensive overhaul of Vietnam's general FDI-licensing framework since 2021. The decree operationalises the new Special Investment Procedure (a registration-and-commitment fast-track in industrial parks, export-processing zones, hi-tech parks, concentrated digital- technology zones, free-trade zones, international financial centres and economic-zone functional areas) and details the list of 16 specially-incentivised sectors covering semiconductor and chip manufacturing, AI, big data, digital technology and high-tech R&D. It also rewrites foreign-investor market-access conditions, document procedures and dispute / grievance mechanisms.

South Korea's 13th National Strategic Technology Special Committee (chaired by MSIT) adopted the 2026 Annual Implementation Plan for the First Basic Plan for National Strategic Technology Development (2024–2028), committing KRW 8.6 trillion in 2026 R&D investment — a ~30% YoY increase from KRW 6.5 trillion in 2025 — across 19 NEXT strategic-technology fields encompassing AI, semiconductors, quantum, displays, and secondary batteries, coordinated across 23 ministries. The plan is supplemented by KRW 46.6 trillion in policy finance delivered through Korea Development Bank (KDB), Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KCGF), and Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC), providing the horizontal funding-coordination architecture that operationalises all sector-specific Korean strategic-technology legislative instruments.

The US Department of Commerce published its final affirmative determination of sales at less-than-fair-value in the antidumping investigation of animal feed-grade L-lysine (lysine) from China (case A-570-215) on 23 July 2026, following a preliminary determination published 6 March 2026 (91 FR 11030). Commerce found a China-wide weighted-average dumping margin of 139.83% (cash deposit rate 139.65% after subsidy-offset adjustment), based on adverse facts available after Commerce found Zhengzhou Longgu Trading Co., the sole company with a calculated margin, and the Eppen Group group of producers/exporters uncooperative and ineligible for a separate rate in the final determination. A group of separate-rate companies — including Anhui BBCA Biochemical, Heilongjiang Wanlirunda Biotechnology, and others exporting through trading intermediaries such as Agromate Sg, Ainore (Tianjin), and Aollen Biotech — received a 73.55% dumping margin (73.37% cash deposit rate). The order covers lysine regardless of form (HCl, sulfate, liquid) under HTSUS 2922.41.0090 and related subheadings. A companion countervailing-duty investigation (preliminary 22 January 2026, 91 FR 2745) was finalized the same day; suspension of liquidation runs from 6 March 2026, with a final AD order contingent on an ITC injury determination due within 45 days of the final LTFV finding.

On 25 February 2026 the Swiss Federal Council adopted extensive amendments to the Ordinance on Measures in Connection with the Situation in Ukraine (Ukraine Ordinance) and the Ordinance on Measures against Belarus, completing implementation of the EU's 19th sanctions package with effect from 26 February 2026. Headline measures: a complete ban on the purchase and import of Russian LNG taking effect 25 April 2026 (transition period until end-2026 for pre-existing long-term contracts); a complete prohibition on the provision of crypto-asset services to Russian persons and companies; new service bans covering advanced-technology / AI / high-performance-computing services and tourism-related services; expansion of the dual-use end-user list (Annex 2) including additional Chinese entities; SECO authority to grant divestment-exemption licences until end-2026 under Art. 30a; and parallel adoption of the EU October 2025 Belarus measures via amendment to the Belarus Ordinance.

Ethiopia's Council of Ministers adopted Regulation No. 586/2026 on 23 February 2026, published in the Federal Negarit Gazette No. 17 (Year 31), repealing in its entirety the prior Investment Incentives Regulation No. 517/2022. The regulation replaces the legacy 6-15 year corporate income tax holiday regime with a performance-based reduced-tax-rate architecture: 5% for SEZ developers and recognised startups (up to 10 years), 15% for priority sectors including manufacturing, renewable energy, agro-processing, mining value-addition, and technology (2-6 years by sector), and 25% for companies listing on the Ethiopian Securities Exchange. Incentive eligibility requires a minimum USD 10 million capital investment threshold for most priority sectors, and every beneficiary must sign a binding Performance Agreement with the Ethiopian Investment Commission committing to employment, capital-deployment, production, and export targets before incentives are activated — failure to meet targets results in suspension of all incentives with no grace period.

The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (DOD, GSA, and NASA) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on 17 February 2026 (FR Doc 2026-03065, 91 FR 7223) implementing Section 5949(a) of the NDAA FY2023 (Pub. L. 117-263), which bars executive agencies from acquiring electronic products or services containing semiconductor components designed, produced, or provided by SMIC, CXMT, YMTC, or their affiliates. A Part B prohibition extends the restriction to "critical systems" whose subsystems incorporate covered semiconductors regardless of COTS sourcing. The comment period closed 20 April 2026; proposed prohibitions take effect 23 December 2027.

Sultan Haitham bin Tariq issued Royal Decree 27/2026 on 11 February 2026, published in Official Gazette 1635 on 15 February 2026, entering into force 30 days later on 17 March 2026. The decree enacts the GCC Common Industrial Regulatory Law as binding Omani national law, implementing the GCC-wide harmonised framework originally adopted at the Supreme Council level (RD 61/2008) with an expanded scope covering manufacturing, service, advanced technology, knowledge, and environmental industries. The law mandates prior industrial licensing for all new and materially modified industrial projects, sets unified approval, revocation, and compliance standards, and explicitly repeals prior conflicting national provisions — completing Oman's implementation of the common GCC industrial regulatory architecture alongside parallel implementations in UAE, KSA, Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait. This is one of three simultaneous Royal Decrees issued on 11 February 2026, alongside RD 28/2026 (GCC Unified Customs Law amendments) and RD 39/2026 (OPAZ Statute restatute), forming a coherent 2026 Omani industrial and economic-zone architecture restatement.

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.

The UAE and United States signed a bilateral Framework on Securing Supply in the Mining and Processing of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths on 4 February 2026, on the sidelines of the 2026 US Critical Minerals Ministerial in Washington DC. The framework coordinates a joint UAE-US approach across mining, separation, processing, recycling, and downstream activities, leveraging UAE strategic reserves alongside US industrial demand and stockpiling infrastructure. Both parties committed to mobilise public and private investment via financing, guarantees, equity investments, offtake arrangements, insurance, and regulatory facilitation, and to streamline permitting and protect supply chains from non-market practices. Within six months, both parties intend to identify priority projects for financing, and to cooperate on recycling technology, geological mapping, and national security asset-review procedures.

The United Kingdom and the United States signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding on critical minerals in Washington DC on 4 February 2026 at the 2026 US Critical Minerals Ministerial. The MOU commits both Participants to intensify cooperative efforts to accelerate the secure supply of critical minerals and rare earths for defence manufacturing and advanced technologies, mobilising government financial tools (guarantees, loans, equity investments, offtake arrangements, insurance) and streamlining permitting timelines. On the UK side, the Department for Business and Trade committed up to £50 million in new funding to support critical mineral projects following the 2025 Spending Review. The instrument also includes a commitment to cooperate on price-floor mechanisms — the first bilateral price-floor cooperation filing on the IPTM register — as part of a broader US-led plurilateral initiative to establish reference prices countering non-market overproduction.

On 3 February 2026 the European Commission opened an in-depth Phase II investigation under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) — the second FSR ex officio case and the first targeting the renewable-energy wind-OEM sector — into whether Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co., Ltd. and its EU affiliates received Chinese foreign subsidies (grants, preferential tax treatment, and state-bank preferential financing) that distort competition for wind-turbine supply and services in the EU internal market. The case (FS.100143) follows the April 2024 preliminary-review opening and subjects Goldwind to an 18-month Phase II investigation with potential redressive-measures decision. The action structurally extends the FSR enforcement perimeter from security equipment (Nuctech, FS.100068) into the green-transition energy-equipment supply chain.

On 1 February 2026 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, presenting the Union Budget 2026-27, announced the launch of India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) 2.0 — the second-phase national semiconductor industrial-policy framework succeeding ISM 1.0 (2021, INR 76,000 crore). The Budget makes an initial INR 1,000 crore provision for ISM 2.0 in FY 2026-27 and raises the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS) outlay from INR 22,919 crore to INR 40,000 crore. ISM 2.0's distinct architecture centres on four strategic priorities not in ISM 1.0: (i) indigenous semiconductor equipment, chemicals, gases and materials production, (ii) full-stack Indian semiconductor IP design, (iii) industry-led R&D and skills/training centres, and (iv) domestic and global supply-chain integration. Total mission outlay reported as approximately INR 1-1.2 lakh crore (~USD 12-14bn) is being finalised; Cabinet clearance and the formal scheme launch are expected by mid-2026.

Dubai's Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched AED 12.8 billion (~USD 3.5bn) in strategic expansion projects for the Dubai Silicon Oasis free zone, comprising a AED 11 billion (~USD 3.0bn) "District IO" technology district and a AED 1.8 billion (~USD 0.49bn) Block 14 mixed-use development. District IO targets smart mobility, 3D printing, robotics, X-Tech, AI, quantum computing and Web3 firms via 25 LEED-compliant buildings, R&D labs and data centres, with capacity for 6,500+ companies and a stated goal of AED 103bn GDP contribution and 70,000+ jobs by 2036. Global Trade Alert classifies the intervention as a financial grant plus an in-kind grant to the free zone.

The US Department of Commerce published its final affirmative countervailing-duty (CVD) determination on animal feed-grade L-lysine from China (case C-570-216) on 23 July 2026, the companion subsidy proceeding to the parallel antidumping case (A-570-215) finalized the same day. Commerce found Heilongjiang Wanlirunda Biotechnology Co., Ltd. and Shouguang Golden-land Industry & Trading Co., Ltd. received countervailable subsidies at 82.11%, while Inner Mongolia Eppen Biotech Co., Ltd. and all other Chinese producers/exporters were assigned a 48.21% subsidy rate. The preliminary CVD determination, published 22 January 2026, set the initial cash-deposit rates and suspension of liquidation; the final determination confirmed and aligned the case with the AD final determination for a joint ITC injury vote.

On 15 January 2026, Canada Growth Fund Inc. (CGF), a CAD 15bn federal Crown investment vehicle, announced it will lead an up to US$85 million structured financing for Mangrove Water Technologies Ltd. (Mangrove Lithium), a British Columbia-based lithium refiner. CGF's own commitment is up to US$65 million, alongside continued participation from existing investors Breakthrough Energy Ventures and BMW i Ventures; the CGF tranche closed concurrently with a separate CAD 9 million loan from National Bank of Canada backed by the federal Clean Technology Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit. Proceeds commission Mangrove's 1,000-tonne-per-annum Single Stack Plant in Delta, BC and advance development of a planned 20,000-tonne-per-year full-scale plant, with the government citing the deal as reducing reliance on overseas lithium processing and building an onshore mining-to-refining supply chain.

On 2026-01-15 the People's Bank of China announced a CNY 400 billion increase to its science-and-technology-innovation and equipment-renewal relending facility (科技创新和技术改造再贷款), raising the total quota from CNY 800 billion to CNY 1.2 trillion. The measure supports the optimized implementation of the "two new" (equipment renewal / consumer trade-in) policy programme, and from 2026 extends eligibility to private small and medium-sized enterprises with relatively high R&D spending, which were previously excluded from this relending window.

On 15 January 2026 the Government of Vietnam issued Decree No. 20/2026/ND-CP, providing detailed implementing regulations for National Assembly Resolution 198/2025/QH15 (17 May 2025) on special mechanisms and policies for the development of the private economic sector. The decree (6 chapters, 17 articles) introduces a synchronized incentive framework covering corporate and personal income tax exemptions, land-access support, science/technology and digital transformation support, and human-resource training. SMEs registering for the first time are exempt from corporate income tax for three consecutive years; innovative startups receive a full CIT exemption for two years followed by a 50% reduction for four years; eligible experts and scientists at innovative startups, R&D centers, and intermediary organizations receive a personal income tax exemption for two years followed by a 50% reduction for four years. The decree took effect on the date of signature, with CIT/PIT incentive provisions retroactively applicable from 17 May 2025 (the effective date of Resolution 198/2025/QH15).

On 7 January 2026 the National Semiconductor and Advanced Electronics Industry Policy Committee (the "Semiconductor Board"), chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Ekniti Nitithanprapas, endorsed the Draft National Strategy for the Development of the Semiconductor and Advanced Electronics Industry, prepared by the Board of Investment (BOI) with Roland Berger after a public hearing in October 2025. The 25-year roadmap (2026-2050) targets more than THB 2.5 trillion (~USD 79.6 billion) in investment, training of more than 230,000 highly-skilled engineers, and construction of a complete upstream-to- downstream semiconductor ecosystem with phased milestones for 2030, 2040 and 2050. The strategy prioritises five product groups where Thailand has competitive potential — Power chips, Sensors, Photonics, Analog and Discrete chips — and explicitly aims to move the country beyond OSAT (Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test) into IC design and upstream wafer fabrication ("Made-in-Thailand chips"). Implementation runs through a five-pillar BOI support mechanism: long-term low-interest financing and grants, human-capital development, technology upgrade of the Microelectronics Technology Centre (TMEC), specialised industrial clusters with guaranteed renewable-energy and water security, and streamlined regulatory approvals including a new BOI "FastPass" fast-track facility (16 pilot projects worth THB 170 billion already processed).

The US Department of Energy announced $2.7 billion in task-order funding over ten years to rebuild domestic uranium enrichment capacity: $900 million each to American Centrifuge Operating and General Matter to develop high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) enrichment capacity, $900 million to Orano Federal Services to expand low-enriched uranium (LEU) enrichment capacity, and $28 million to Global Laser Enrichment for next-generation enrichment technology. DOE frames the awards as reducing US reliance on foreign — chiefly Russian — enriched uranium supply and securing fuel for the country's 94 commercial reactors and future advanced-reactor deployment, with funds distributed under a milestone-based accountability framework.

Decree 353/2025/NĐ-CP is the principal implementing instrument of Vietnam's Law on Digital Technology Industry (Law No. 71/2025/QH15), effective 1 January 2026 — the same date as the parent statute. The decree's five chapters and 36 articles operationalise three pillars: (i) a comprehensive State-support and preferential-incentive framework for products, services, and infrastructure across the semiconductor, AI, cloud, fintech, and e-commerce sectors; (ii) a high-quality-human-resources development framework covering training funds, scholarship schemes, and foreign-expert visa fast-tracks; and (iii) Vietnam's first statutory innovation sandbox, allowing organisations to deploy new digital products and business models under time- and scope-limited regulatory carve-outs where current law has not kept pace with practice.

India's Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways notified operational guidelines on 26 December 2025 for two paired shipbuilding subsidy schemes with a combined outlay of ₹44,700 crore (~USD 5.4bn). SBFAS (₹24,736 crore corpus) provides 15–25% per-vessel financial assistance tiered by vessel category, with milestone-linked disbursement and a 40% scrap-value credit for vessels broken at Indian yards. SbDS (₹19,989 crore outlay) funds greenfield shipbuilding clusters, brownfield-yard modernisation, and establishment of an India Ship Technology Centre. Both schemes are valid to 31 March 2036 with an in-principle extension to 2047, with applicability for shipbuilding contracts signed from 24 September 2025. On 7 January 2026 the guidelines were amended to include chemical tankers under SBFAS Category-1.

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.

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.

Taiwan's Legislative Yuan passed the Artificial Intelligence Basic Act (人工智慧基本法) on third reading on 23 December 2025, and President Lai Ching-te promulgated the 20-article statute on 14 January 2026, bringing it into force immediately. The Act designates the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) as the central AI-policy competent authority and codifies seven governance principles — sustainability and well-being, human autonomy, privacy protection and data governance, cybersecurity and safety, transparency and explainability, fairness and non-discrimination, and accountability — that apply to all public-sector AI procurement and high-risk sectoral applications. The statute establishes a statutory foundation for the Taiwan AI Action Plan 2.0, mandates an Executive Yuan National AI Strategy Committee, and provides authority for sector-specific implementing regulations by FSC, NCC, MOHW, and MOTC across finance, telecoms, medical, and autonomous-vehicle AI within a two-year window. As the first national AI governance statute in the Greater China region and the third globally after the EU AI Act and South Korea's AI Basic Act, it frames regulatory expectations for the companies at the heart of the global AI hardware supply chain — TSMC, NVIDIA ODM partners, and advanced-packaging incumbents — that are headquartered or operate substantially in Taiwan.

The Overseas Investment (National Interest Test and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2025 (No 81 of 2025) is the largest rewrite of New Zealand's Overseas Investment Act 2005 since the 2018 residential-land amendment. The Bill (Government Bill 171) was introduced by the Minister of Finance in June 2025, passed all three readings in the House of Representatives, received Royal Assent on 19 December 2025, and was brought into force on 6 March 2026 by the Overseas Investment (National Interest Test and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2025 Commencement Order 2026 (SL 2026/2). The Act replaces the OIA's residual "investor test" discretion with a single statutory national-interest test applied to all "sensitive asset" transactions, introduces a new s 29B repeat-investor mechanism (Treasury does not re-litigate investor risk factors on subsequent applications outside strategically important businesses), creates new military / dual-use technology call-in transactions and critical-direct-supplier call-in transactions (amended s 85), and adds a no-change-of-control transaction category. Administered by The Treasury (policy lead) and Toitū Te Whenua LINZ (operations / case handling), with consent decisions issued by the responsible Ministers.

Section 851 of the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 119-60), signed December 18, 2025, prohibits US federal agencies from procuring biotechnology equipment or services from designated "biotechnology companies of concern" (BCCs), and bars federal contractors from using such equipment/services in work performed under federal contracts, grants, or loans. The final enacted text ties initial BCC designations to DoD's existing §1260H Chinese-military-company list (which currently includes BGI and MGI, but not WuXi AppTec or WuXi Biologics) and directs OMB to designate additional BCCs within one year of enactment; operational prohibitions activate 60-90 days after FAR revision, with a five-year grandfather period for pre-existing contracts — enforcement is expected to begin in 2027-28. The legislation is the successor to H.R.8333 (118th Congress, House-passed September 2024 but stalled in the Senate before adjournment) and represents the first enacted US federal-procurement biotech-supply-chain-resilience statute.

President Trump signed the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 119-60) into law on 18 December 2025, incorporating the bipartisan DFC Modernization and Reauthorization Act of 2025 (originating as H.R. 5299). The act reauthorizes the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation for six years, through 31 December 2031, and raises its Maximum Contingent Liability lending cap from $60 billion to $205 billion — an increase of over 300%. It also creates a new $5 billion Equity Revolving Fund at the Treasury Department, giving DFC a dedicated capital stream for direct equity investment (previously scored as a loss-making grant expenditure under budget rules), and raises DFC's permitted minority-equity stake in a portfolio company from 30% to 40%.

On 16 December 2025 the European Commission adopted in Strasbourg the Proposal for a Regulation establishing a framework of measures for strengthening the Union's biotechnology and biomanufacturing sectors particularly in the area of health — the "European Biotech Act" (COM(2025) 1022 final). The proposal is the third axis of the EU's pharma/biotech industrial-policy stack alongside the Critical Medicines Act (filed: 2025-03-11-eu-critical-medicines-act-proposal) and the US Section 232 pharmaceuticals track (filed: 2026-04-02-us-section-232-pharmaceutical-proclamation), and is explicitly designed to keep biotech innovation, investment, and biomanufacturing capacity in Europe in the face of US/China competitiveness pressure. Core instruments: (1) statutory recognition for "Health Biotechnology Strategic Projects" (HBSPs) and "High-Impact" HBSPs eligible for accelerated permitting via a single national contact point, plus administrative/technical/ financial support; (2) regulatory sandboxes for novel biotech and biomanufacturing modalities; (3) a 12-month Supplementary Protection Certificate extension for qualifying biotech and advanced-therapy medicines; (4) targeted simplification of existing EU life-sciences acquis (clinical-trial timelines, risk-proportionate requirements); (5) an EU Health Biotechnology Investment Pilot co-developed with the EIB Group, paired with a EUR 10bn 2026-27 EIB-Commission financing initiative; (6) biosecurity safeguards including a list of "biotechnology products of concern" and mandatory built-in screening for benchtop nucleic-acid synthesis devices. A second tranche covering industrial biotechnologies and biomanufacturing outside health is expected later in 2026.

The UK Export Control (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2025 (SI 2025/1197) entered into force on 16 December 2025, extending the UK's strategic export control regime to cover quantum computing hardware (ECCN-aligned 4A506), advanced and cryogenic semiconductor technologies (3A501, 3A504, 3B501), and associated software and technology categories. The regulations also transfer existing national controls on quantum and advanced semiconductor items from the Export Control Order 2008 into the UK's assimilated Dual-Use Regulation (retained EU 428/2009 as amended), harmonising the UK's dual-use schedule with Wassenaar Arrangement 2024 updates. The action is explicitly calibrated as "Wassenaar Minus One" — aligning UK controls with the US BIS (EAR / ECCN framework) and EU (Regulation 2021/821 as amended) without requiring multilateral consensus on each item. It is the first UK statutory instrument since Brexit to add substantial new technology-specific dual-use controls targeting advanced semiconductor and quantum capabilities.

The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) entered into a $3,103,360 settlement with Exodus Movement, Inc., a U.S.-incorporated non-custodial / self-custody crypto wallet software company, to resolve 254 apparent violations of the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR, 31 C.F.R. Part 560) committed between October 17, 2017 and January 4, 2019. Exodus customer-support staff provided technical and account-related support — and in 12 of the 254 instances recommended the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) to circumvent partner-exchange geoblocking controls — to users who self-identified as located in Iran, in violation of the ITSR's prohibition on the export of services to Iran (§ 560.204) and, for the 12 egregious cases, the facilitation prohibition (§ 560.203). OFAC deemed the 12 VPN-coaching cases "egregious" because Exodus personnel were generally aware of U.S. sanctions and the company's own terms of use prohibited Iran usage, yet support staff actively helped Iranian users evade controls. Exodus separately committed to invest $630,000 in additional sanctions compliance controls. The settlement is structurally novel as the first OFAC enforcement action against a Web3-infrastructure / non-custodial wallet-software vendor and establishes that OFAC will assert jurisdiction over self-custody software providers based on customer-support facilitation conduct, not just custodial flow control.

Vietnam's 15th National Assembly adopted the Law on Investment 2025 (Law No. 143/2025/QH15) at its 10th session on 11 December 2025, effective 1 March 2026. The law replaces the 2020 Law on Investment (Law 61/2020/QH14) as the umbrella FDI framework. Article 19 lets foreign investors establish enterprises in Vietnam without a prior investment project, unlocking holding-company / regional-headquarters structures. A fast-track Special Investment Procedure (SIP) covers industrial parks, export-processing zones, hi-tech parks, concentrated digital-technology zones, free-trade zones, international financial centres and economic-zone functional areas, targeting semiconductor, data-centre and 5G/digital-infrastructure capex. Appendix IV abolishes 38 conditional business sectors and adjusts 20 others (from 1 July 2026 only 199 conditional sectors remain). Operationalised by Decree 96/2026/ND-CP (issued and effective 31 March 2026) and Decree 103/2026/ND-CP for outbound investment.