Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2673 actions· ✨ 90 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 17, 2026, at the margins of the G7 Évian summit, Prime Minister Carney and Chancellor Merz issued a bilateral joint statement committing Canada and Germany to a critical-minerals stockpiling partnership with capital investments to be concluded by end-2026. The statement also launches a joint supply chain mapping initiative to identify priority battery-value-chain opportunities, with a specific named project — RCT Solutions (DE) + Sio Silica + Manitoba partners — targeting the extraction and integrated solar manufacturing of 99.9%+ purity silica sand. It builds on the August 2025 CA–DE Declaration of Intent (which established the supply-chain mapping framework and business missions) and extends the relationship into binding capital-deployment commitments.

At the 52nd G7 Summit in Évian-les-Bains (June 15–17, 2026, under France's G7 Presidency), the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States issued a dedicated leaders' declaration committing to secure supply chains for critical minerals by diversifying sourcing, reducing excessive dependencies on any single foreign supplier, and coordinating investment and market-development tools across G7 members. The declaration references the Partnership On Wide Energy and Resources Resilience Asia (POWERR Asia) as a named allied cooperation vehicle, and calls for stronger G7 coordination on emergency supply-chain response and private-capital mobilisation for critical mineral projects outside of concentrated supplier states. This is the first standalone G7 leaders' declaration specifically dedicated to critical minerals supply-chain security, moving beyond language embedded in broader summit communiqués.

On 3 June 2026 the European Commission adopted a legislative proposal to amend and substantially expand the EU Chips Act (Regulation (EU) 2023/1781), as part of the European Technological Sovereignty Package. The proposal raises the mobilisation target from €43bn to €120bn, introduces new demand-side "Demand Accelerators" to aggregate public procurement, expands "Grand Challenges" to cover AI-optimised chips, caps permitting at 12 months, and widens the Strategic Partnerships on Semiconductors framework. As a Commission legislative proposal it now enters co-decision (European Parliament + Council) before becoming law; the 2023 regulation remains in force during this process.

South Africa's Cabinet approved the Industrial Development Strategy 2026 (IDS 2026) at its regular meeting of 3 June 2026 (following a Special Cabinet meeting on 13 May 2026). DTIC published the strategy document on 8 June 2026. IDS 2026 is South Africa's first Industrial Development Strategy to formally integrate critical mineral supply-chain security into the national industrial policy framework. Key provisions: (1) PERMIT-TO-PROCESSING LINKAGE — mining permit allocations in new blocks are conditioned on binding domestic processing commitments for priority commodities; (2) PRIORITY BENEFICIATION SECTORS — chrome, platinum-group metals (PGMs), cobalt, lithium, and rare earth elements designated as mandatory value-addition targets; (3) INDUSTRIAL SECURITY CLASSIFICATION — strategic mineral sectors listed alongside steel, automotive, and aerospace as active industrial-policy industries where government takes a direct coordination role; (4) CROSS-DEPARTMENT COORDINATION — DTIC coordinates with DMPR on permit conditions, embedding beneficiation mandates into the licensing regime. The IDS 2026 is the operative implementation instrument for the permit-conditioned beneficiation mandate signalled in the May 2025 Critical Minerals and Metals Strategy; the two documents are functionally complementary but legally distinct — the strategy sets direction, IDS sets implementation obligations.

The DRC Council of Ministers, at its 87th extraordinary session on 29 May 2026, adopted decrees expanding the list of strategic mineral substances from 3 (cobalt, germanium, coltan) to 9, adding lithium, tantalum, niobium, tungsten, uranium, and rare earth elements. Under the 2018 Mining Code framework, strategic minerals attract a 10% royalty versus the standard 3.5% for base metals, representing a nearly threefold increase in the state's royalty take on the newly classified substances. The measure was presented by Minister of Mines Louis Watum Kabamba and confirmed by RTNC state broadcaster and Bloomberg reporting (31 May 2026). DRC produces an estimated 60–70% of global tantalum supply; the reclassification extends upstream royalty escalation to six additional high-value critical materials — including Manono lithium deposit output, tantalum refinery streams, and any tungsten, niobium, uranium, or REE operations active or under development.

South Africa's electricity regulator NERSA approved, on 29 May 2026, an amendment to Eskom's Negotiated Pricing Agreements establishing an interim concessionary electricity tariff of 62 c/kWh for ten ferrochrome smelters — six operated by Samancor Chrome (5-year term) and four by the Glencore-Merafe Chrome Venture (3-year term). The decision followed Eskom's 10 April 2026 application and a 25 May 2026 public hearing, invoked under the agreements' hardship provisions after falling ferrochrome prices led both producers to threaten smelter closures and job losses. Eskom states the revenue variance is ring-fenced and cannot be recovered from standard tariff customers.

Russia and Kazakhstan signed three intergovernmental agreements on 28 May 2026 during President Putin's state visit to Astana, formalising construction of Kazakhstan's first nuclear power plant at Ulken village on Lake Balkhash. The plant will comprise two VVER-1200 power units (total ~2.4 GW capacity); Russia will provide a state export credit financing ~85% of the estimated USD 14.4 billion construction cost. The IGAs cover: (1) basic principles and conditions of cooperation for construction of the "Balkhash" NPP; (2) state export credit terms; and (3) cooperation in nuclear and radiological safety regulation. Construction is targeted to commence in 2027, with the first unit operational by 2034.

On 26 May 2026 at the Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi, the United States, Japan, Australia, and India signed the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative Framework, committing to mobilise up to USD 20 billion in combined government and private-sector investment for mining, processing, refining, and recycling of critical minerals across the Indo-Pacific. The framework coordinates investment-policy tools, exploration support, market-development instruments, and supply-chain financing across all four members, with the explicit aim of diversifying critical mineral supply chains away from single-point dependencies in processing. It is the first Quad-format multilateral critical minerals commitment and represents a structural coordination layer atop existing bilateral frameworks (US-Japan, US-India, Japan-France) and national strategies.

On 23 May 2026 President Javier Milei, Economy Minister Luis Caputo, and Chief of Staff Manuel Adorni announced the "Régimen de Incentivo para Grandes Inversiones en Nuevas Industrias" (Super RIGI), and on 26 May 2026 submitted the bill (Mensaje 181/2026, expediente 0005-PE-2026) to the Cámara de Diputados — pending Congressional approval as of filing. The regime applies a US$1 billion minimum investment threshold (with ≥20% committed in the first two years), a 15% corporate income tax rate (vs 25% under the base 2024 RIGI), accelerated depreciation of 60%/20%/20% over three years, immediate export-duty exemption (vs year 3 under RIGI), import-tariff exemption, and 30-year regulatory stability across tax, customs, social security, and FX matters. A progressive FX-liberalisation schedule allows 20% / 40% / 100% free disposal of export-generated foreign currency in years 1 / 2 / 3+. Target sectors are industries that "do not currently exist or are in experimental/pilot phase in Argentina," including semiconductors, AI data centres, advanced biotech, 100% electric vehicles, lithium value chain (downstream processing, cathode, battery), green hydrogen, solar panels, wind turbines, onshore LNG, SMR nuclear, aerospace, uranium value chain, potassium and phosphorus fertilisers, and new petrochemicals.

Zimbabwe's Ministry of Mines and Mining Development gazetted a formal Mineral Classification and Declaration on 22 May 2026, signed by Minister Dr Polite Kambamura, classifying 14 minerals as "critical" (nickel, cobalt, graphite, copper, REE, chrome, PGMs, manganese, antimony, uranium, ruthenium, tungsten, niobium — plus metallurgical coal as "special critical") and 10 as "strategic" (limestone, potash, phosphorus, iron ore, pyrites, oil, gas, coal, gold, diamonds). The declaration mandates minimum state shareholding through designated Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) in all critical-mineral exploitation operations and prohibits export of listed minerals in raw or unbeneficiated form without a ministerially-approved conditional transitional plan specifying a local beneficiation timeline.

On 20 May 2026 President Prabowo Subianto signed a Government Regulation (Peraturan Pemerintah tentang Tata Kelola Ekspor Komoditas Sumber Daya Alam) establishing PT Danantara Sumber Daya Indonesia (DSI) — a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Danantara sovereign-investment holding company — as the sole legal exporter ("eksportir tunggal") for palm oil (CPO and derivatives), thermal and metallurgical coal, and ferroalloys (ferronickel, nickel pig iron, ferromanganese, ferrochrome), representing approximately USD 65 billion in annual Indonesian export proceeds. A phased implementation architecture applies: a transition period from 1 June through 31 August 2026 during which private exporters continue direct contractual relationships but must route all export documentation through DSI as the mandatory single-window reporting layer; followed by full implementation from 1 September 2026 under which DSI assumes the entire export chain including contract negotiation, buyer relationship, shipment booking, and payment receipt. The stated rationale is to strengthen export-flow oversight, eliminate under-invoicing and transfer-pricing-driven capital flight, and improve DHE-SDA foreign-exchange retention compliance.

The Government of Sierra Leone officially launched the National Strategy for Critical Minerals 2026-2031 on 20 May 2026 at Sierra Leone Mining Week (Freetown International Conference Centre), with Vice President Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh delivering the keynote address alongside Minister of Mines Julius Daniel Mattai. The strategy commits to attracting USD 2.5 billion in exploration and mining investment, establishing 3-5 domestic mineral-processing plants, and achieving USD 1.5 billion in annual value-added mineral exports by 2031 -- up from a current raw-mineral export base of approximately USD 1.3 billion. Scope covers lithium, graphite, bauxite, cobalt, coltan, rutile, diamonds, iron ore, and rare-earth elements, and frames the national minerals agenda under the theme "Responsible Mining, Value Multiplication and Shared Prosperity."

On 13 May 2026, Entreprise Générale du Cobalt (EGC — the DRC state cobalt monopsony), Trafigura Pte Ltd, and EVelution Energy LLC signed a tripartite MOU in Madrid to establish a long-term supply framework for Congolese cobalt hydroxide to the United States. EGC will originate cobalt hydroxide from artisanal and small-scale mining; Trafigura will provide logistics and marketing services; EVelution will process the material into battery-grade cobalt sulfate and alloy-grade cobalt metal at a new first-of-kind commercial-scale refinery in Yuma County, Arizona (construction 2027, target completion 2029). The arrangement is designed to supply approximately 40% of projected US cobalt demand for aerospace, defence, and EV batteries. The MOU operationalises the December 2025 US-DRC Strategic Partnership Agreement at the commercial supply-chain level, creating a primary DRC→US cobalt flow that bypasses Chinese refiners.

On 8 May 2026 the US Department of Commerce and South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources (MOTIR) signed the Korea-U.S. Shipbuilding Partnership Initiative (KUSPI) MOU, establishing a standing bilateral platform covering commercial shipbuilding cooperation, workforce development, industrial modernisation, and maritime manufacturing investment. The agreement creates the Korea-U.S. Shipbuilding Partnership Center in Washington D.C. (expected operational later in 2026) as the permanent coordination mechanism for technical exchanges, shipyard productivity improvement projects, FDI into the US maritime industrial base, and joint workforce training. KUSPI operationalises the $150 bn Korean investment sub-pledge to US shipbuilding — itself a tranche of the broader $350 bn / $20 bn-annual-cap commitment under the December 2025 US-Korea Strategic Trade and Investment Deal — and structurally positions the US-ROK allied axis as the coordinated civilian shipbuilding counterweight to China's dominant global shipyard share.

Brazil enacted Lei 15.506 of 16 September 2026 (in force on publication, Art. 51), establishing the Política Nacional de Minerais Críticos e Estratégicos (PNMCE) — Brazil's first standalone critical-minerals sovereignty framework — and the Conselho Nacional para Industrialização de Minerais Críticos e Estratégicos (CIMCE). The law originated as Bill PL 2780/2024, approved by the Chamber of Deputies on May 6-7, 2026 (one day before the Lula-Trump White House meeting) and then by the Senate. It authorises the Union to create the Fundo Garantidor da Atividade Mineral (FGAM) with up to R$2bn (Art. 9) to guarantee critical-mineral projects, and a tax credit of up to 20% of spend on critical-mineral processing, transformation and urban mining. The Chamber-approved text (CMCE committee with prior-approval rights over takeovers and foreign participation, FGAM up to R$5bn, 0.3% gross-revenue R&D levy) was amended before enactment; see the 2026-09-16 amendment.

The Republic of Guinea (represented by Minister of Mines Bouna Sylla and Minister of Finance), Guinea Alumina Corporation (GAC, subsidiary of UAE's Emirates Global Aluminium), and EGA signed an amicable settlement on 6 May 2026, formally ending the 18-month dispute that followed Guinea's August 2025 revocation of GAC's Sangarédi bauxite concession. Key terms: (1) Guinea pays EGA/GAC an undisclosed lump-sum (~USD 300M widely reported but not officially confirmed) in exchange for the formal transfer of all Sangarédi project assets, mining rights, equipment, and operational contracts to state-owned Nimba Mining Company (NMC) — the concession transfer is not reversed; (2) NMC assumes responsibility for advancing the Sangarédi project, including the alumina refinery investment commitment that GAC failed to fulfil; (3) CBG–EGA and NMC–EGA bauxite supply arrangements are restored — CBG agreed to renew long-term supply contracts with EGA under mutually beneficial commercial terms, re-anchoring EGA's UAE alumina refinery feedstock (~2.6 Mt/yr alumina output dependent on Guinea bauxite); (4) the settlement definitively terminates all disputes arising from the October 2024 export suspension, the August 2025 presidential decree revocation, and any CBG-related supply interruptions. EGA had taken a USD 680m write-down in 2025 following the original revocation. No formal Journal Officiel decree identified; settlement announced via EGA joint press release co-signed by both Guinea ministers.

The Decreto para la Autorización Inmediata de Inversiones, published in Mexico's Diario Oficial de la Federación on 4 May 2026, creates a streamlined investment-authorization mechanism under President Sheinbaum's Plan México strategy. The decree establishes an Investment Committee — composed of the Secretariats of Economía, Hacienda, SEMARNAT, SCT, Energía, and Bienestar — mandated to issue authorization certificates within 30 business days for qualifying projects, replacing the historic 6–18-month multi-agency backlog. Eligibility covers three tiers: projects in designated Polos de Desarrollo Económico para el Bienestar (Welfare Development Poles), investments of MXN 2 billion (≈USD 100M) or more, and projects in strategic sectors (semiconductors, EV batteries, critical minerals, automotive supply chain, medical devices, biotech, aerospace). This is the procedural- acceleration arm of Plan México, structurally distinct from the January 2025 Plan México tax-incentive decree (the fiscal arm), and operationalises the February 2026 Plan México expansion announced by Sheinbaum.

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.

Mozambique's National Mining Institute (INAMI) presented a draft revision of the country's mining law for public consultation, with parliamentary debate scheduled for 7 May 2026. The bill mandates that the state hold a minimum 15% equity stake in all mining projects (raisable on a project-by-project basis), reserves "strategic minerals" exclusively for the state mining company Empresa Nacional de Minas (ENM), prohibits the export of unprocessed minerals (forcing in-country processing), caps concessions at 25 years, and channels 10% of mining revenues to a local development fund for the province, district, and community where operations occur. Implementation is not expected before 2027 to allow development of secondary regulations and ENM institutional build-out. This is the flagship economic-policy instrument of President Daniel Chapo's January 2025 mining and oil/gas restructuring agenda.

On 27 April 2026, US Assistant Secretary of State Caleb Orr and Bolivian Mining Minister Marco Antonio Calderón signed a Critical Minerals Memorandum of Understanding in Washington DC, establishing a non-binding cooperation framework targeting lithium, cobalt, and copper supply chains. The MoU is the first major bilateral economic instrument between the US and Bolivia since the 2008–09 expulsion of the US Ambassador, marking a strategic realignment by the post-Paz government toward Western investment partnerships. The agreement commits both governments to attract private-sector investment to Bolivia's critical-minerals endowment — including the Salar de Uyuni lithium resource (~21 Mt LCE, world's largest identified reserve) — as operational follow-through to Bolivia's February 2026 Critical Minerals Ministerial participation and the FORGE launch. It runs in parallel with Bolivia's domestic Proyecto de Ley del Litio (filed December 2025), which would open extraction-stage YLB operations to private partnership and introduce a progressive royalty structure.

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 European Commission and the US announced on 24 April 2026 the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on a strategic partnership on critical minerals, accompanied by an EU-US Critical Minerals Action Plan. The framework deepens cooperation on supply-chain security across the strategic raw-materials list shared between the two jurisdictions — joint financing, recycling, mutual recognition of strategic- project status under the EU Critical Raw Materials Act (filed: 2024-05-23-eu-crma-entry-into-force) and US IRA §30D / §45X frameworks (filed: 2022-08-16-us-inflation-reduction-act). The agreement is positioned as a joint response to non-market practices in third-country supply chains for the named materials.

On 22 April 2026 President José Antonio Kast's administration formally filed the National Reconstruction and Economic and Social Development Bill in the Chamber of Deputies, codifying the 40-measure package unveiled on 15 April. Core mining-sector provisions include a phased corporate tax cut from 27% to 23% by 2029 (25.5% in 2027, 24% in 2028, 23% from 2029), a 25-year tax-invariability regime for major mining projects shielding investors from future royalty increases and new sector-specific levies, and permitting reform capping environmental review rounds and injunctions to compress >1,000-day timelines. The bill targets unlocking Chile's stalled ~USD 100 bn copper/lithium pipeline and is the most significant restoration of legal certainty for foreign mining investors since the repeal of DL 600.

President Trump issued five Presidential Determinations on 20 April 2026 under Section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. § 4533), invoking the authority granted by Executive Order 14156 (Declaring a National Energy Emergency, signed 20 January 2025). The five determinations cover: (1) domestic petroleum production, refining, and logistics; (2) large-scale energy and energy-related infrastructure development, manufacturing, and deployment; (3) natural gas transmission, processing, storage, and LNG capacity; (4) coal supply chains and baseload power generation; (5) grid infrastructure, equipment, and supply chain. Each determination authorises the relevant Cabinet Secretary (primarily Energy) to use DPA §303 powers — direct loans, loan guarantees, purchase commitments, and equity investments — to expand domestic capacity in the named category.

ALNAFT officially launched the Algeria Bid Round 2026 on 19 April 2026 in Algiers, offering seven onshore exploration/development perimeters (Est Bordj Omar Driss I, Illizi Centre I, El M'Zaid Nord, El Borma II, El Hadjira III, El Benoud Est, Touggourt Sud) located in the Ouargla, Illizi, Touggourt, and El Bayadh hydrocarbon provinces. The round operates under the Loi n° 19-13 hydrocarbons framework, with the virtual data room (VDR) opening 1 June 2026, bids due 26 November 2026, and contracts to be signed no later than 31 January 2027. The initiative is Algeria's first structured multi-block bid round since the 2019 framework law restructured the upstream contractual and institutional architecture, and is materially significant to EU gas-import diversification given Algeria's approximately 12% share of EU gas supply via the Medgaz and Transmed pipelines plus LNG.

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.

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

President Tokayev signed Decree U2600001233 on 15 April 2026, formally adopting the Strategy for the Development of the Nuclear Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2050. The 30-year framework marks a structural pivot for the world's largest uranium producer (~45% of global mined supply) from a raw-ore export model toward domestic nuclear-energy sovereignty, targeting at least three operational NPPs by 2050 (a fourth under assessment), 5% of national electricity from nuclear by 2035, and 50% combined nuclear and renewables by 2050. The strategy mandates SMR evaluation for regional deployment, a 1% R&D levy on uranium miners' production costs through 2030, and the development of a Kazakh "nuclear cluster" producing high-value fuel-cycle goods and services rather than raw uranium concentrate alone.

At its 86th ordinary meeting on 10 April 2026 the DRC Council of Ministers adopted two interlocking decrees: Décret 1 creates the Réserve Stratégique de Substances Minérales Stratégiques (Strategic Reserve of Strategic Mineral Substances), a sui generis public-purpose stockpiling instrument covering cobalt, coltan (tantalum-niobium), and germanium; Décret 2 amends ARECOMS' founding decree, expanding its statutory mandate from export-quota regulator to strategic-reserve operator, authorized to constitute physical stocks through compulsory allocation of quota volumes, voluntary producer acquisition, and royalty-in-kind receipts, and to intervene in international markets via timed releases or withholding to stabilise prices. The instrument materially extends Kinshasa's market- intervention reach beyond the cobalt-only quota framework adopted in February 2025, adding coltan and germanium to ARECOMS' jurisdictional perimeter and giving the DRC a price- stabilisation tool comparable to the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve and China's State Reserve Bureau base-metals stockpile.

Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) issued Ministerial Decree No. 144.K/MB.01/MEM.B/2026, effective 15 April 2026, fundamentally restructuring the Nickel Ore Benchmark Price (Harga Patokan Mineral, HPM) formula that governs the minimum domestic transaction price for ore sales from IUP/IUPK miners to downstream processors. For the first time the HPM uses a multi-element comprehensive pricing formula incorporating by-product credits for cobalt, iron, and chromium alongside nickel content, and raises the Correction Factor (CF) for 1.6%-grade ore from 17% to 30% (a ~76% increase), with an inverse-linear ±1% CF adjustment per ±0.1% grade variance. The reform also shifts HPM measurement from dry-metric-ton (US$/dmt) to wet-metric-ton (US$/wmt) with explicit moisture-content deduction, covers 10 minerals including bauxite, and replaces Kepmen ESDM No. 268.K/2025. The measure redistributes economic rent from the downstream Chinese-backed HPAL/RKEF processing complex toward upstream Indonesian miners, tightening margins across Indonesia's ~50%-of-global-supply nickel-ore industry.

On 9 April 2026 the Government of India, exercising powers under section 4(1) of the Special Economic Zones Act 2005, gazetted a 66.166-hectare sector-specific Special Economic Zone at Dholera Special Investment Region, Gujarat for Tata Semiconductor Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd, exclusively for electronic hardware, software and IT/ITES. The notification is the statutory site- enabling instrument for India's first commercial-scale wafer-fab plant — a ~INR 91,000 crore (~USD 11bn) Tata Electronics / PSMC (Powerchip, Taiwan) joint project announced under India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) 1.0 in February 2024 — and follows the Letter of Approval issued on 17 March 2026. The same notification designates the SEZ as an Inland Container Depot under the Customs Act 1962 with effect from 9 April 2026, enabling on-site customs clearance for fab inputs.

On 8–9 April 2026 the Argentine Cámara de Diputados gave final passage (137–111 with 3 abstentions) to a bill amending Ley 26.639 (the 2010 Régimen de Presupuestos Mínimos para la Preservación de los Glaciares y del Ambiente Periglacial), after the Senate had already approved the reform in February 2026 (40–31 with 1 abstention). The Executive promulgated the law as Ley 27.804 via Decreto 271/2026, published in the Boletín Oficial on 24 April 2026. The reform narrows the federal protection floor by limiting strict protection to glaciers and periglacial geoforms with proven hydrological function, and transfers to provincial governments the authority to define the technical and scientific criteria delimiting protected areas — directly unblocking the "ABCD" copper pipeline (Agua Rica/MARA, Filo del Sol, Josemaría, Los Azules, El Pachón) and adjacent lithium and gold projects whose prior periglacial-buffer encumbrance had stalled an estimated USD 30bn of investment, ~70% in copper / gold / silver.

On 7 April 2026 Ghana's Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources announced that the Damang Mining Lease — previously held by Gold Fields Limited (South Africa) under a 30-year lease that expired in 2025 — had been awarded to Engineers and Planners Co. Ltd (E&P) following a competitive tender. Gold Fields formally handed over the mine to the Government of Ghana on 18 April 2026 after a 12-month government-granted transition extension was not converted into a renewal. This is the first senior gold-mine lease reassignment to an indigenous Ghanaian operator under the Mahama administration's resource-nationalism architecture, establishing a competitive-tender plus indigenous-operator-prioritisation template distinct from outright state nationalisation.

President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on 1 April 2026 directing the Cabinet of Ministers to submit within four months the draft "State Program for the Development of Mining and Metallurgy in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2027-2030". The decree mandates Azeraluminium LLC to complete its electrolysis plant and reach 100,000 tonnes/year production capacity by 2030 and to scale aluminum rolling output to 50,000 tonnes/year. It simultaneously transfers all assets of Azerbaijan Aluminium OJSC to Azeraluminium LLC, liquidates the OJSC, and cancels outstanding sector debts and tax liabilities to provide a financial clean slate ahead of the 2027-2030 planning period.

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

The Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration published a Federal Register notice on 10 April 2026 (91 FR 18412, doc 2026-06952) opening the inaugural Call for Proposals for the American AI Exports Program established under Executive Order 14320. Proposals are accepted from 1 April 2026 through 5:00 pm EDT on 30 June 2026 from US industry-led "pre-set" consortia offering full-stack American AI export packages — AI-optimised hardware, data pipelines, AI models and systems, security and cybersecurity measures, and sector-specific applications — for presentation by the US government to foreign public- and private-sector buyers. Designated consortia receive priority US-government advocacy, priority consideration for export-control licence engagement, interagency coordination, and federal-financing referrals (EXIM, DFC), with a 14-business-day completeness review and 60-calendar-day designation decision once a proposal is deemed complete.

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.

The Government of Tanzania signed a Development Agreement with Panda Hill Tanzania Limited (a subsidiary of US-based Denham Capital / Tremont Investments) on 24 March 2026 in Mbeya to develop the Panda Hill niobium and ferroniobium project in the Mbeya/Songwe region. Under the agreement, the Government holds a 16% non-dilutable free carried interest in the project special-purpose vehicle, with Panda Hill Tanzania Limited committing to an initial capital investment of USD 442 million to construct Tanzania's first niobium mine and ferroniobium smelting plant — the first ferroniobium processing facility in Africa. At full production, the project is expected to supply approximately 4–5% of global niobium demand, generating USD 686 million in lifetime government revenues (royalties, taxes, and 16% equity dividends), positioning Tanzania among the world's top-four niobium producers alongside Brazil's CBMM, Canada's Niobec, and China Molybdenum.

The Philippine Semiconductor and Electronics Industry (PSEI) Roadmap 2026–2030 was presented at the 4th SEIAC meeting at Malacañang on 23 March 2026 by BOI Executive Director Ma. Corazon Halili-Dichosa and formally rolled out by DTI in April 2026. The Roadmap targets $110 billion in annual exports by 2030 ($70B semiconductors + $40B electronics, approximately doubling the current ~$50B baseline) via value-chain ascent from assembly-test-packaging through IC design toward front-end wafer fabrication, supported by 128,000-worker upskilling over five years and up to three national laboratories in fabrication, R&D, and talent development.

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

On 19 March 2026 the Parliament of Ghana ratified the Mining Lease for the Ewoyaa Lithium Project (Mfantseman Municipality, Central Region), held by Barari DV Ghana Ltd (subsidiary of AIM/ASX-listed Atlantic Lithium). The lease was originally granted by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources in October 2023 but had stalled in Parliament for nearly three years. Ratification clears Atlantic Lithium to pursue final investment decision and project funding, and makes Ghana the first West African country to formally enter commercial lithium production. Headline fiscal terms: 15-year initial lease, sliding spodumene royalty (5% < USD 1,500/t up to 12% > USD 3,200/t), 13% Government free-carried interest plus a 6% paid interest held by the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) — combined state interest of 19% — replacing Ghana's prior 5% royalty / 10% state interest standard for mining leases.

On 19 March 2026, USTR Ambassador Jamieson Greer and Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, METI, and Ministry of Finance jointly released the "United States-Japan Action Plan for Critical Minerals Supply Chain Resilience" — the operational follow-on to the 27 October 2025 US-Japan Framework. The Action Plan formally commits both governments to develop a plurilateral trade initiative in critical minerals "supported by price floors or other measures", to consult on embedding "border-adjusted price floors" in a binding plurilateral agreement, and to identify specific mining/processing/manufacturing projects in the US, Japan, or third countries for prioritised joint financing. It is the first formal US/Japan trade-policy commitment to administered floor-pricing as an instrument of critical-minerals trade governance, and explicitly invites third countries to join the contemplated plurilateral.

India's Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the Bharat Audyogik Vikas Yojna (BHAVYA) on 18 March 2026 with a ₹33,660 crore (~USD 4.0bn) outlay over six years (FY 2026-27 to FY 2031-32) to develop 100 plug-and-play industrial parks of 100-1,000 acres each across all states and Union Territories. Financial assistance of up to ₹1 crore per acre supports core infrastructure (internal roads, underground utilities, drainage, common treatment, ICT), value-added infrastructure (ready-built sheds, built-to-suit units, testing labs, warehousing), and social infrastructure (worker housing). The scheme is sector-agnostic and is implemented by the National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC) under DPIIT, with states forming Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) and committing to single-window clearances. The first phase will deliver 50 parks.

The Mongolian Government prepared and submitted to parliament a two-track legislative package: (i) a standalone Law on Supporting Critical Minerals Projects, sponsored by MP B. Uyanga, that creates a formal Cabinet-administered list of critical minerals, simplifies and fast-tracks exploration-licence procedures for designated critical-mineral deposits, and mandates that no less than 60% of total benefits from those deposits flow to the public via the National Wealth Fund (Win-Win principle); and (ii) companion Cabinet-approved amendments to the parent Minerals Law introducing the same critical-mineral definition, a dual-track licensing system (first-come-first-served plus tenders), and escalating fees on inactive licences to deter speculative hoarding. The package was formally on the agenda of the 2026 Spring Session of the State Great Khural (commenced 16 March 2026); as of May 2026 the bills remain in parliamentary review pending enactment.

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.

South Korea's National Assembly passed the Special Act for Korea-US Strategic Investment Management (한미 전략적 투자 관리를 위한 특별법) on 12 March 2026 by a bipartisan vote of 226-8-8, authorising a sovereign-backed US$350bn (~KRW 517tn) investment commitment to the United States over an annual US$20bn cap. The act creates the Korea-U.S. Strategic Investment Corporation (한미전략투자공사), a new state-run entity with KRW 2tn (~US$1.36bn) government-financed paid-in capital, as the institutional vehicle to execute the bilateral investment MOU. Article 3 Clause 3 permits investment decisions to proceed despite insufficient commercial viability when national-security or supply-chain-stability grounds exist, subject to prior consent of the relevant National Assembly Standing Committee, operationalising the December 2025 Korea-US Strategic Trade and Investment Deal investment-pledge tranche.