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

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.

The European Investment Bank signed a EUR 75 million loan with AMAG Austria Metall AG on 19 December 2025 (publicly announced 23 February 2026), financing research, development, digitalisation and environmental-sustainability upgrades at AMAG's aluminium plant in Ranshofen, Upper Austria. The credit is the first EIB operation in Austria under its new TechEU programme (accelerating industrial innovation in Europe) and benefits from InvestEU programme backing. It contributes to a wider AMAG investment programme with total projected costs of EUR 168 million over 2025-2028, and the EIB explicitly frames the financing as advancing the EU objective of a sustainable, diversified and stable supply of critical raw materials, including aluminium.

The European Investment Bank signed a EUR 90 million loan with METLEN Energy & Metals SA on 19 December 2025 (publicly announced 15 January 2026), financing modernisation of METLEN's bauxite mining operations in the Parnassus-Giona area and the construction of Europe's first EIB-financed gallium production line at the company's Aluminium of Greece complex in Agios Nikolaos, Viotia. The financing is provided under the REPowerEU framework and is explicitly framed by the EIB as supporting EU Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) objectives and reducing reliance on non-EU gallium supply. It is the third EIB financing extended to METLEN.

On 16 December 2025, Public Services and Procurement Canada implemented the Buy Canadian Procurement Policy Framework, bringing into force (a) the Policy on Prioritizing Canadian Materials in Federal Procurement, which mandates use of Canadian steel, wood products and aluminum in federal defence and construction contracts valued at CAD 25 million or more that contain at least CAD 250,000 of those materials where Canadian supply exists, and (b) the Policy on Prioritizing Canadian Suppliers and Canadian Content in Strategic Federal Procurements, which applies a bid-price discount margin favouring Canadian suppliers in procurements tied to Canada's economic, industrial and innovation priorities. Complementary amendments to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Procurement Inquiry Regulations, effective 15 December 2025, remove CITT jurisdiction to review procurement measures that restrict participation to, or favour, Canadian suppliers, goods, services, materials or subcontractors. The framework applies immediately to procurements of CAD 25 million and above and is scheduled to expand to contracts of CAD 5 million and above by spring 2026. Budget 2025 allocates roughly CAD 186 million over five years to implement the framework, including CAD 79.9 million for a new Small and Medium Business Procurement Program.

The US Department of Commerce awarded Crucible Metals, LLC — a subsidiary of South Korea's Korea Zinc — USD 210 million in direct CHIPS Incentives Program funding to build a smelter and critical-minerals processing facility in Clarksville, Tennessee. The facility, styled "Project Crucible," is an advanced replica of Korea Zinc's Onsan complex and is expected to cost roughly USD 6.6 billion in capital expenditure (USD 7.4 billion in total project financing), targeting first production in 2029. At full scale it is designed to produce 13 critical and strategic minerals — including gallium, germanium, antimony, indium, bismuth, tellurium, cadmium and palladium alongside roughly 300,000 tons/year of zinc, 200,000 tons/year of lead and 35,000+ tons/year of copper. As a condition of the award, Korea Zinc committed to give the US government and US customers priority access to its existing Korean-refined output of 10 critical minerals beginning in 2026, and the project separately secured conditional Department of War (Office of Strategic Capital) loan support and FAST-41 covered-project permitting status.

On 12 December 2025 the Finnish Parliament (Eduskunta) approved Act 1361/2025, amending the Mining Minerals Tax Act (kaivosmineraalivero- laki, Act 314/2023) on the basis of government bill HE 127/2025. The amendment raises the value-based royalty on taxable metals contained in mined metallic ores from 0.6% to 2.5% (a 4.2× increase) and lifts the tonnage royalty on industrial minerals and other useful rock from €0.20 to €0.60 per tonne (3× increase). Iron is newly added to the list of taxable metals (alongside silver, gold, cobalt, chromium, copper, lithium, nickel, lead, palladium, platinum, uranium and zinc). Tax revenue is split 80% to the state and 20% to mining municipalities. The amendment enters into force on 1 January 2026.

On 9 December 2025, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and General Administration of Customs jointly issued Announcement No. 79 of 2025, reinstating an export-licence management system for ~300 HS-coded steel products effective 1 January 2026. Exporters must obtain a per-contract licence supported by a manufacturer-issued product quality inspection certificate; licences are issued by MOFCOM (for centrally-administered SOEs) and provincial / sub-provincial commerce departments. The regime is the first reinstatement of Chinese steel-export licensing in 16 years (since 2009) and applies the export-licensing instrument — previously used for critical minerals and dual-use goods — to a non-critical bulk commodity for the first time.

Decision No. 530 of 2025 of Egypt's Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade renews, for a further one-year period from the expiry of the prior decision, an export duty of EGP 9,000 (~US$189) per metric ton on scrap and waste of stainless-steel alloys (HS 7204.21), implemented via Egyptian Customs Tariff Circular No. 67/2025. Shipments destined for free zones within Egypt are excluded from the duty. The stated rationale is to regulate exports of what the ministry classifies as a strategic input and preserve domestic feedstock supply for Egypt's steel industry.

Russia's Government adopted Resolution N° 1947 on 28 November 2025, extending for a fourth consecutive six-month period the temporary ban on the export of waste and scrap of precious metals and of electrical and electronic equipment used principally for precious-metals recovery. The restriction runs from 1 December 2025 through 31 May 2026, covering waste and scrap of gold, silver, platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, osmium, and ruthenium, as well as metals plated or clad with precious metals. Carve-outs apply for cathode antimony ingots and small laboratory samples (≤500 g per batch) shipped by refineries for quality verification.

On 26 November 2025 the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved a Rs 7,280 crore (~USD 800 million) scheme to establish 6,000 MTPA of integrated sintered Rare Earth Permanent Magnet (REPM) manufacturing capacity in India. The Ministry of Heavy Industries will allocate capacity to five beneficiaries (up to 1,200 MTPA each) via global competitive bidding. The package combines a Rs 6,450 crore sales-linked incentive (PLI-style, paid on REPM sales over 5 years) with a Rs 750 crore capital subsidy for facility build-out. The scheme runs 7 years from award (2-year gestation + 5-year disbursement) and covers the full value chain from rare-earth oxides through metals, alloys, to finished sintered Nd-Fe-B and SmCo magnets.

On 24 November 2025 Barrick Mining Corporation and the Government of Mali announced a comprehensive settlement resolving all disputes arising from the Loulo-Gounkoto gold complex, including the June 2025 provisional state administration order. Under the agreement Barrick commits to pay approximately USD 430 million (≈244 billion CFA francs) to Mali in cash and VAT-credit offsets, formally accedes to Mali's 2023 Mining Code (Loi 2023-040), and receives in exchange: cancellation of all charges against Barrick entities and personnel, release of four detained employees, return of three metric tons of previously seized gold (~USD 400 million), termination of the provisional administration, and a ten-year renewal of the Loulo mine permit (which had been set to expire in February 2026). Full operational control was restored to Barrick on 18 December 2025.

Thailand's Subcommittee on Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties (under the Department of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce) issued a final affirmative anti-dumping determination on 24 November 2025, imposing definitive duties of 5.12%–21.94% CIF on imports of aluminium extrusions (profiles, bars, rods, and structural sections) originating in China. The measure covers eight HS subheadings (7604 and 7610 series) and remains in force for five years from the date of Gazette publication. The investigation was initiated on 16 July 2024 following a domestic-industry petition from Thai aluminium extruders competing against surging Chinese imports.

UK Export Finance launched the Critical Goods Export Development Guarantee (Critical Goods EDG), a lending-support scheme that offers an 80% government guarantee on commercial finance for UK-based suppliers of critical minerals to UK exporters. Eligible suppliers must produce at least 50% of their critical-mineral goods for UK exporters (lowered to 20% if the firm also earns at least 5% of turnover from overseas sales), and the mineral must appear on the UK Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre's 2024 criticality assessment or the associated growth-minerals list. The scheme targets commercial lending facilities above £25 million and lets suppliers access the guarantee even if they do not export directly, as long as their output feeds into UK exporters' end products.

The Department for Business and Trade, with DSIT, published "Vision 2035: Critical Minerals Strategy" on 22 November 2025 — the UK's first dedicated critical-minerals strategy under the Starmer government, superseding the withdrawn 2022 strategy. DBT commits up to GBP 50 million for new critical mineral projects on top of GBP 165 million in existing support, with the National Wealth Fund providing equity backing (Cornish Lithium GBP 24m in 2023 plus a further GBP 31m commitment in 2025; Cornish Metals GBP 28.6m in 2025; South Crofty Tin GBP 26.8m). Sets 2035 targets of 10% of UK industrial demand from domestic production (extraction + processing + refining), 20% from recycling, and a hard floor of 50,000 tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent produced domestically. Strategy is consciously midstream-and-recycling-tilted rather than upstream-extraction race; pillars are (i) optimise domestic production, (ii) resilient global supply networks via partnerships with US, EU, Canada, Australia, Saudi Arabia, India, Japan (plus Kazakhstan rhenium/vanadium and continued China engagement), (iii) circular economy / recycling, (iv) responsible supply chains.

On 20 November 2025 Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed Government Order No. 3351-r, approving a list of 15 companies selected to receive a combined RUB 4.97 billion in 2025 federal infrastructure subsidies under the "New Opportunities for the Far East" federal project (part of the "Socio-Economic Development of the Far Eastern Federal District" state programme). The two largest line items — RUB 2 billion (~USD 24.7m) each, the programme's legal per-project ceiling — go to OOO "Amur Minerals" for grid connection at its planned mining-and-processing plant on the Malmyzhskoye copper-gold deposit (Khabarovsk Krai) and to OOO "Udokanskaya Med'" (Udokan Copper) for construction of a transport-storage complex at its Udokan copper mining-and-metallurgical combine (Zabaykalsky Krai). Subsidies reimburse a share of investors' capital spending on power grid connection, water/heat networks and access infrastructure, contingent on job-creation and capex targets set out in the order's annex.

On 18 November 2025, during Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's White House visit (17-19 November 2025), the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia signed a Strategic Framework for Cooperation on Securing Uranium, Metals, Permanent Magnets, and Critical Minerals Supply Chains. The framework was signed by US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and Saudi Minister of Energy H.R.H. Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, and positions Saudi Arabia (via Ma'aden + Public Investment Fund vehicles) as a regional hub for processing rare earths and producing permanent magnets, supports a US-backed rare-earths refinery in the Kingdom, and channels Saudi capital — alongside the broader USD ~1 trillion Saudi investment commitment in the US announced the same week — into US and allied critical-mineral projects. It is paired with a separate joint declaration on civil nuclear cooperation (Section 123 Agreement contemplated) and was operationalised one day later by the 19 November 2025 binding term sheet between MP Materials, the US Department of War, and Ma'aden to develop a rare-earth refinery in Saudi Arabia (Department of War financing the US side's 49% stake; Ma'aden retaining ≥51%).

Indonesia's Ministry of Finance issued Peraturan Menteri Keuangan (PMK) No. 80 of 2025 on 17 November 2025, imposing tiered export duties on gold products effective 23 December 2025. Rates range from 7.5% to 15% depending on product form (dore, granules, or ingots/cast bars) and a reference-price trigger at US$3,200/troy oz, with dore attracting the highest duty (12.5% below $3,200/oz; 15% at or above). The policy aims to secure domestic gold supply, stabilise local refinery feedstock prices, and advance Indonesia's hilirisasi (downstreaming) agenda by incentivising in-country processing of raw gold output.

Portaria Normativa GM/MME nº 120/2025, published in the Diário Oficial da União on 14 November 2025 by the Ministério de Minas e Energia, regulates the Política de Debêntures para Projetos de Transformação de Minerais Estratégicos para a Transição Energética. It sets the eligibility criteria, classification methodology and project-approval pipeline (under Decreto 11.964/2024 and Leis 12.431/2011 and 14.801/2024) for tax-exempt incentivised debentures and infrastructure debentures financing the downstream transformation of cobalt, copper, lithium, nickel and rare earths into battery and permanent-magnet inputs (lithium carbonate/hydroxide, cobalt sulfate, nickel sulfate, battery-grade copper foil, rare earth oxides/ chlorides/metals/alloys). MME estimates ~R$5.2 bn/year in unlocked private investment (R$3.7 bn transformation + R$1.5 bn mining/ beneficiation, with up to 49% of bond proceeds usable on linked upstream activities).

Japan's Cabinet adopted a Cabinet Order on 11 November 2025 (promulgated 14 November 2025, effective 14 February 2026) amending Appended Table 1 of the Export Trade Control Order (輸出貿易管理令) to add three new list-control item categories: (i) peptide synthesizers and related components (Item group mapping to Australia Group 2023–2024 plenary dual-use biotechnology controls, aligning Japan with the US BIS implementation promulgated December 2024), (ii) powders of refractory metals or their alloys below specified particle-size and purity thresholds — tungsten, molybdenum, niobium, tantalum, and rhenium powders used as additive- manufacturing feedstocks (Item 5(20), implementing a Wassenaar Arrangement plenary outcome on metal-powder dual-use), and (iii) modules, assemblies, or devices incorporating field-programmable logic devices (FPGAs) above specified gate-count and process-node thresholds (Item 7(10-2), extending Japan's semiconductor-component AI-compute perimeter). This is the first discrete Appended Table 1 list-control amendment filed under the post-October-2025 FEFTA catch-all- controls overhaul architecture.

Natural Resources Canada's Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Tim Hodgson, announced on 31 October 2025 conditional approval of up to CAD 36.3 million (USD ~25.8M) in Government of Canada funding for Ucore Rare Metals Inc.'s "Pathway to Samarium and Gadolinium Security" project, part of the first tranche of 26 investments and partnerships under the G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan. The package comprises up to CAD 26.3 million in non-repayable contributions from NRCan's Global Partnerships Initiative (GPI) and up to CAD 10 million from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario). Funding will scale up a commercial-scale RapidSX(TM) separation facility in Kingston, Ontario, intended to be the first dedicated samarium and gadolinium oxide production plant in North America, supporting samarium-cobalt magnet production for defence and other applications. Funding remains subject to due diligence and a Contribution Agreement.

On 29 October 2025 the Swiss Federal Council amended the Ordinance on Measures in Connection with the Situation in Ukraine (SR 946.231.176.72), published as AS 2025 662, completing Switzerland's alignment with the remaining goods, finance and services elements of the EU's 18th Russia sanctions package (Council Regulation (EU) 2025/1494, 18 July 2025) and tightening the parallel Belarus regime. The amendment took effect 30 October 2025 and adds: an export ban covering additional structural-metal, general-purpose-machinery and machine-tool goods; an import ban on further petroleum-oil products and waste/scrap categories; and expanded controls on commercial transactions and investment instruments spanning financial services, investment banking, crude-petroleum trade and motor-vehicle/trailer goods. The Federal Department of Economic Affairs (WBF) had already taken over the measures within its own competence on 12 August 2025; this decision closes the remainder. In parallel, the Federal Council's asset-freeze annexes were extended to 14 individuals and 41 companies/organizations.

Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Japan's state export-credit and outbound-investment finance institution, signed a loan agreement on 2025-10-28 providing up to USD 85.75 million to ALBRAS - Alumínio Brasileiro S.A., an aluminum smelter in Pará, Brazil, co-financed with MUFG Bank (insured by Nippon Export and Investment Insurance, NEXI). The facility funds capital investment to address aging equipment and sustain ALBRAS's production capacity. JBIC explicitly frames the loan as securing a long-term stable supply of low-carbon primary aluminum for Japan, which relies entirely on imports for the metal.

On 27 October 2025, during the Trump-Takaichi Tokyo summit, the United States and Japan announced the "Framework for Securing the Supply of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths through Mining and Processing", signed by President Donald J. Trump and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on 28 October 2025. The non-binding framework establishes a US-Japan Critical Minerals Supply Security Rapid Response Group co-led by the US Secretary of Energy and the Japanese METI Minister; commits both governments to provide financial support to selected mining and processing projects within six months via grants, guarantees, loans, equity, offtake arrangements, and insurance — mobilising DFC + EXIM (US side) with JOGMEC + JBIC (Japan side); develops a "mutually complementary stockpiling arrangement" leveraging existing national systems; and schedules a Mining, Minerals and Metals Investment Ministerial within 180 days. The framework was subsequently operationalised through the 19 March 2026 "United States-Japan Action Plan for Critical Minerals Supply Chain Resilience" jointly issued by USTR and METI.

On 26 October 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, on the margins of the ASEAN Summit, President Donald J. Trump and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim signed two complementary instruments structuring the US-Malaysia economic relationship: (i) a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Cooperation to Diversify Global Critical Minerals Supply Chains and Promote Investments, establishing quarterly working-level meetings on bilateral exploration, extraction, processing, refining, manufacturing, and recycling, plus shared commitments on streamlined permitting and protection from non-market policies; and (ii) a legally-binding Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) covering goods (chemicals, machinery, electrical equipment, metals, vehicles, dairy, horticulture, poultry, pork, rice, fuel ethanol), digital trade, services, and investment. Under the ART, the United States maintains a 19% reciprocal tariff on Malaysian imports (with carve-outs for products receiving 0% under EO 14346) while Malaysia commits to refrain from banning or quota-restricting exports of critical minerals or rare earths to the US, ensure no restrictions on rare-earth magnet sales to US firms, and grant extended operating licenses to US partners. The ART enters into force 60 days after exchange of notifications of completed domestic procedures.

On 23 October 2025, the Council of the European Union adopted Council Regulation (EU) 2025/2041 (amending Regulation (EC) No 765/2006) and Council Decision (CFSP) 2025/2040 (amending Decision 2012/642/CFSP), widening the EU's Belarus restrictive-measures regime in lockstep with the 19th Russia sanctions package adopted the same day. The package widens the export ban to industrial goods (salts, ores, rubber articles, tyres, millstones, construction materials, electronic components, rangefinders, propellant chemicals, metals/oxides/alloys), extends the import ban to all acyclic hydrocarbons, introduces a new prior-licensing requirement for services supplied to Belarus, its government, or public bodies, and mirrors the Russia regime's space, AI, and high-performance/ quantum-computing service restrictions. A companion instrument, Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2039, adds 5 new asset-freeze listings (2 individuals + 3 entities, including JSC Holography Industry, Horizont Holding, and ICT Horizont). Entered into force 24 October 2025.

On 20 October 2025, President Donald J. Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed at the White House the "United States-Australia Framework for Securing of Supply in the Mining and Processing of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths" — a non-binding common-policy instrument committing both governments to provide at least USD 1 billion each in financing within six months (USD 3bn+ joint commitment against an USD 8.5bn project pipeline and a stated USD 53bn recoverable-resource pipeline). The framework establishes a US-Australia Critical Minerals Supply Security Response Group co-led by the US Secretary of Energy and the Australian Minister for Resources, mandates streamlined permitting for mining/separation/processing projects, and explicitly couples the US demand-side architecture (DPA Title III + Defense Logistics Agency stockpile) to Australia's Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve. Concurrent with signing, EXIM issued seven Letters of Interest totalling USD 2.2bn (unlocking up to USD 5bn) to Arafura Rare Earths, Northern Minerals, Graphinex, La Trobe Magnesium, VHM, RZ Resources, and Sunrise Energy Metals; the US Department of War separately committed to a 100 metric-ton-per-year advanced gallium refinery in Western Australia, and Australia took USD 200m concessional equity in the Alcoa-Sojitz Wagerup gallium project and USD 100m equity in the Arafura Nolans rare-earths project.

The Saudi Council of Ministers adopted Resolution No. 269 on 11 October 2025, amending the Precious Metals and Gemstones Law to transfer all supervision, regulation, and licensing of precious-metals and gemstones manufacturing activities from the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) to the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources (MIM). The Ministry of Commerce retains authority over retail trade outlets and consumer-facing commercial activities. A six-month transition window — announced jointly by MoC and MIM on 16 October 2025 — requires all existing manufacturing practitioners to obtain an industrial licence through the "Sanai" platform; mandatory hallmarking, gemstone identification tagging, and consumer-documentation standards also take effect under the revised regulatory framework.

Brazil's Câmara de Comércio Exterior (Gecex) approved Resolução nº 799, de 10 de outubro 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 ten new duty-free (0%) temporary import tariff-rate quotas covering sodium metabisulfite (24,650 t/year), bisphenol A (10,000 t/year), a microbial inoculant (3,948 units/year), fibrous-grade anatase titanium dioxide (1,500 t/year), banknote security ink (12,000 kg/year), two grades of polyether for concrete additives (2,500 t and 700 t/year), aliphatic polyisocyanate (15,000 t/year), electrolytic manganese metal flakes (972 t/year), and 345kV aluminum conductor power cable (4,000 t/year). Quotas run for one year from their individual validity start dates (16 October 2025 or 27 November 2025 depending on product), granting duty-free entry within volume caps where domestic Mercosur supply is judged insufficient.

On 10 October 2025 Vietnam's Government issued Decree No. 259/2025/NĐ-CP, establishing the country's first comprehensive statutory framework for strategic trade control — covering the export, temporary import for re-export, transshipment, transit, and cross-border trade of strategic goods defined as: (a) WMD-related items, (b) conventional weapons, and (c) dual-use goods spanning nuclear, electronics, telecommunications, sensors, aviation, maritime, aerospace, biochemical, metals, and chemical categories. The decree creates a Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) licensing regime with an ICP (Internal Compliance Programme) fast-track for certified exporters of two or more years' standing, and includes catch-all provisions requiring licensing even for unlisted goods where WMD end-use or a designated end-user is suspected. Structurally, the decree represents Vietnam's transition from ad-hoc export-management provisions under legacy Decree 69/2018/NĐ-CP to a unified strategic-trade-control architecture analytically aligned with the Wassenaar Arrangement, Australia Group, Nuclear Suppliers Group, and MTCR control-list architecture. It positions Vietnam as a compliant strategic-goods manufacturing hub within the US-led friend-shoring supply chain, directly preceding the US announcement in February 2026 of Vietnam's removal from EAR Country Groups D:1–D:3.

On 2025-09-29 the Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario announced binding term sheets to provide Algoma Steel Inc. with C$500 million in liquidity support: C$400 million (including an C$80 million secured tranche) in loan facilities from the federal government via the Large Enterprise Tariff Loan (LETL) facility, administered by the Canada Enterprise Emergency Funding Corporation, and C$100 million (including a C$20 million secured tranche) from the Province of Ontario. The package is explicitly framed as protection for Canadian steel jobs against the impact of US Section 232 steel tariffs, intended to help Algoma sustain operations and continue its transition toward electric-arc-furnace steelmaking while reducing US-market dependence. The financing transaction closed on 2025-11-17.

Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, announced on 2025-09-17 a US$500 million strategic private placement in TSX/NYSE-listed Ivanhoe Mines, subscribing for 57,516,666 common shares at C$12.00/share; the placement closed 2025-09-29, giving QIA approximately 4% of Ivanhoe's issued and outstanding shares. On 2025-11-21 the two parties announced a follow-on memorandum of understanding to collaborate on exploration, development and preferential financing of critical-minerals projects across Africa, including support for Ivanhoe's Western Forelands exploration programme in the DRC. Ivanhoe's principal assets are the Kamoa-Kakula copper complex (DRC) and the Platreef platinum-palladium-nickel project (South Africa).

The European Investment Bank signed a EUR 200 million, five-year loan agreement with German multimetal producer Aurubis AG on 11 September 2025 to finance two strategic projects: a EUR 120 million expansion of the copper tankhouse at Aurubis's Bulgarian production site (raising refined-copper output roughly 50% to 340,000 tonnes/year, the largest single investment at the plant since its 2008 acquisition) and the EUR 190 million Complex Recycling Hamburg (CRH) program to scale up metal recycling capacity at Aurubis's German headquarters site. The EIB frames this as its first financing for the copper sector since adopting a new EIB Group strategy to secure EU access to critical raw materials, explicitly supporting the rollout of the Critical Raw Materials Act. Global Trade Alert separately logs the transaction as an "amber"-flagged state-loan intervention (state act 94442 / intervention 149387).

On 8 September 2025 at Prime Minister House in Islamabad, U.S. Strategic Metals (USSM, Missouri) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Pakistan's Frontier Works Organization (FWO, Pakistan Army-affiliated and the country's largest miner of critical minerals) committing to an initial USD 500 million investment programme covering antimony, copper, gold, tungsten, and rare-earth elements, with an envisaged poly-metallic refinery inside Pakistan. Embassy Islamabad Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Zach Harkenrider attended the signing. The first shipment of rare earths and other critical minerals from Pakistan to the United States was dispatched on 2 October 2025, marking the operational start of the partnership. The instrument forms the strategic- minerals limb of a broader Pakistan–U.S. realignment paired with U.S. EXIM Bank's USD 1.25 billion financing commitment for the Reko Diq copper-gold project (announced 10 December 2025) — a single coherent bilateral package positioning Pakistan as a non- PRC source of refined critical minerals to the United States.

On 3 September 2025 the Union Cabinet approved the Incentive Scheme for Promotion of Critical Minerals Recycling (CMRIS), a ₹1,500 crore (~USD 180 million) capex and opex subsidy programme running FY2025-26 to FY2030-31 under the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM). The scheme provides a 20% capex subsidy on plant and machinery plus 40–60% opex incentives to entities recycling critical minerals from secondary feedstocks — e-waste, lithium-ion battery scrap, and end-of-life vehicle catalytic converters. A Ministry of Mines gazette notification formalising the scheme was issued on 8 September 2025.

France's Ministry of Industry and Energy, under Minister Marc Ferracci, announced a EUR 200 million green-industry tax credit (crédit d'impôt au titre des investissements dans l'industrie verte, C3IV) for Imerys' EMILI project at Échassières (Allier) — France's first domestic lithium mining and refining operation. The award was made as the project's total construction cost was revised up to EUR 1.8 billion. Once operational (targeted 2030), the site is expected to produce 34,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide per year, enough to supply around 700,000 electric vehicles and cover over 20% of French battery factories' lithium needs. The award was announced alongside a wider package of C3IV support: seven critical-metals projects received a combined ~EUR 809 million in tax credits, part of ~EUR 5.4 billion in supported critical raw materials investment nationally.

Brazil's Foreign Trade Chamber (GECEX/CAMEX) imposed a five-year definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of carbon-steel metal sheets with thickness below 0.5 mm (alloy or non-alloy, any width; tin-plate, chromium-oxide-coated, and related surface finishes; NCMs 7210.12.00, 7210.50.00, 7212.10.00, 7212.50.90) originating in China. The measure was approved at the 228th ordinary GECEX meeting on 27 August 2025, signed on 28 August 2025, and entered into force upon DOU publication on 29 August 2025. Duties are levied as specific tariffs in USD per metric tonne, ranging from USD 284.34/mt (Baoshan/Wisco-Nippon) to USD 499.35/mt for the residual category, and run through approximately 28 August 2030, subject to sunset review.

MIIT, NDRC and MNR jointly issued the Interim Measures for Total Volume Control of Rare Earth Mining and Rare Earth Smelting and Separation on August 22, 2025, the first implementing regulation under State Council Order No. 785. The measures establish annual national production ceilings (for both mining and smelting/separation), distributed directly to designated enterprises at the start of each year, and — in the most novel provision — extend quota controls to rare-earth content in imported raw materials (e.g. Myanmar concentrate, Kazakh monazite, Guinea feedstocks) for the first time. Enterprises must report monthly output against quotas to local authorities and submit the prior month's flow data to an MIIT-operated traceability platform by the 10th of each month.

The US Department of Commerce preliminarily determined that unwrought palladium from Russia is being sold in the United States at less than fair value, setting a preliminary weighted-average dumping margin and cash-deposit rate of 132.83% ad valorem for the Russia-wide entity (calculated using facts available with adverse inferences after no respondent cooperated). The investigation covered the January 1 - June 30, 2025 period and was applicable from 2026-02-19. Commerce confirmed the same 132.83% margin in its final determination (2026-05-01), but the US International Trade Commission subsequently found no material injury to the US industry (2026-05-29), so no antidumping duty order was issued and the cash-deposit requirement was discontinued.

The US Department of Commerce preliminarily determined that Russian producers and exporters of unwrought palladium receive countervailable subsidies, and set a preliminary all-others countervailing duty cash-deposit rate of 109.10% ad valorem (the same rate applied to the two named respondents, JSC Urals Innovative Technologies and Prioksky Plant of Non-Ferrous Metals, both calculated using facts available with adverse inferences). The investigation was initiated 2025-08-19 covering the 2024 calendar-year period, with the preliminary determination effective 2026-03-11. A companion antidumping duty investigation on the same product ran in parallel; Commerce issued its final affirmative CVD determination on 2026-05-20.

Parliament of India passed the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2025 (Act No. 28 of 2025) — Lok Sabha on 12 August 2025, Rajya Sabha on 19 August 2025, Presidential assent on 21 August 2025, in force 1 September 2025 — amending the parent MMDR Act, 1957. The Act removes the prior 50% cap on captive-mine production eligible for open sale (allowing captive-block holders unrestricted third-party sale after meeting end-use requirements), widens the National Mineral Exploration Trust into the National Mineral Exploration and Development Trust (NMEDT) with mandate extended to mine development, offshore areas, and overseas acquisition operations, raises the NMEDT royalty contribution from 2% to 3%, waives the auction premium for the 24 critical and strategic minerals listed in Part D of the First Schedule (including lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel, REE, PGM, beryllium, and antimony), and establishes a statutory authority to register and regulate Mineral Exchanges as electronic commodity-trading platforms for minerals and metals.

On 2025-08-13 the Government of Ontario launched the Protect Ontario Financing Program, offering term loans of C$250,000 to C$40 million per business, with repayment terms of up to six years, to Ontario-based companies in the steel, aluminum, copper and automotive sectors facing working-capital strain from US Section 232 tariffs. The program is the first phase of the province's broader C$5 billion "Protecting Ontario Account" and is administered by the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. Eligible firms must show at least C$2 million in annual revenue, 10+ full-time Ontario employees, three years of operations, and must have exhausted or faced significant barriers accessing comparable federal support.

On 4 August 2025, IRCON International Limited — a Government of India public-sector enterprise under the Ministry of Railways — launched a tender for the manufacture, supply, transportation and delivery of 60 kg Prime Rail (13M length) of Grade IRS-T-1, valued at INR 97.37 crore (approx. USD 11.7 million). The tender embeds a domestic-content preference under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017 (as amended), consistent with the wider batch of India localisation-preference tenders already tracked in this register. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented on 4 August 2025.

METI certified a Supply Security Plan (供給確保計画) filed by IHI Master Metal Co., Ltd. under Japan's Economic Security Promotion Act, designating nickel-alloy investment castings for aircraft engine and structural components as a "specified critical good" material input. The certification (plan no. 2025-aircraft-3-1 / ２０２５航空機の部品第３号－１, approved 1 August 2025) qualifies IHI Master Metal for a grant of approximately JPY 2.5 billion (~USD 16.6 million) to expand domestic nickel-alloy casting capacity for aircraft parts.

President Trump signed Executive Order 14323, "Addressing Threats to the United States by the Government of Brazil," on 30 July 2025 (published in the Federal Register on 5 August 2025 as FR doc 2025-14896). Invoking IEEPA and the National Emergencies Act, the order declared a country- specific national emergency citing "policies, practices, and actions" of the Lula government — including the criminal prosecution of former president Jair Bolsonaro, asserted infringement of the free-expression rights of US persons via DSA-style platform-content rules, and retaliatory measures targeting US digital firms — as constituting an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to US national security, foreign policy, and economy. The EO imposed a 40% additional ad valorem duty on Brazilian-origin goods effective for entries on or after 12:01 a.m. EDT on 6 August 2025; stacked on top of the 10% baseline reciprocal rate from EO 14257/14326, the cumulative rate reached 50% for non- exempt goods. Annex I exempted civil aircraft and parts, orange juice, certain machinery, certain metals, and energy/energy products. The EO was amended on 20 November 2025 (effective for entries on or after 13 November 2025) to exempt 238+ HTSUS codes for agricultural products (beef, tropical produce, nuts, coffee, cocoa, cassava derivatives, etc.) following initial Trump-Lula bilateral negotiations on 6 October 2025. The IEEPA-tariff component was terminated by EO of 20 February 2026 ("Ending Certain Tariff Actions") within hours of the SCOTUS 6-3 ruling in *Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump* holding that IEEPA does not authorize the imposition of tariffs.

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

On 18 July 2025 Kazakhstan's Parliament adopted Law No. 215-VIII ZRK "On Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Taxation Matters," which abolishes the legacy priority-investment-project and special-investment-contract regimes under the Entrepreneurial Code and replaces them with three new contractual instruments — the Investment Agreement, the Investment Obligations Agreement, and the Simplified Investment Contract — effective 1 January 2026. The law is the binding legal operationalisation of the October 2024 Concept of Investment Policy until 2029 (filed), the US-Kazakhstan Critical Minerals MOU of November 2025 (filed), and the EU-Kazakhstan Strategic Partnership Roadmap 2025-2026 (filed), providing a contractual-certainty architecture for the USD 150 billion FDI-attraction target that previous "priority investment project" frameworks lacked. A statutory effectiveness-evaluation obligation (first of its kind in Central Asia) for assessing the socio-economic impact of granted investment preferences enters force separately on 1 July 2026.

Kazakhstan's Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 214-VIII ZRK ("On Taxes and Other Mandatory Payments to the Budget"), signed by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on 18 July 2025 and effective 1 January 2026, replaces the 2017 Tax Code (Code No. 120-VI ZRK) with a wholesale recodification of the Kazakh tax regime. The most consequential IPTM-relevant provision restructures the uranium mineral extraction tax (MET) from a flat 6% rate to a differentiated schedule of 4–18% tiered by annual production volume per subsoil use agreement, supplemented by uranium-price-band surcharges of 0.5–2.5% above $70–$110/lb thresholds. The code also introduces a tenfold MET reduction for processing man-made mineral formations (mining waste / tailings reclamation) to incentivise circular-economy mineral recovery, and for exploration or production licenses issued after 31 December 2026, replaces MET with a tiered royalty regime — ore 13%, concentrate 10%, refined metals 7% — grandfathering existing operating projects under MET. The processing-grade discount (ore → concentrate → metal) is an explicit incentive to push value-added steps onshore within Kazakhstan. Directly material to Kazatomprom (NAC Kazatomprom JSC), the world's largest uranium producer supplying approximately 43% of global output, and to all solid-mineral operators (chromium, copper, zinc, gold) commencing new subsoil use agreements after January 2027.

DRC's Cadastre Minier (CAMI) granted KoBold Metals seven exclusive exploration permits covering approximately 1,600 km² in Tanganyika (four permits, Manono territory) and Haut-Lomami (three, Malemba Nkulu territory) provinces, valid for five years. The permits were issued August 27, 2025 following a July 2025 accord de principe between KoBold and the DRC Ministry of Mines; an official handover ceremony was held September 3, 2025, presided by Minister of Mines Louis Watum Kabamba. KoBold Metals — backed by Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Sam Altman — becomes the first US company to hold formal DRC lithium exploration rights over the Manono deposit, one of the world's largest confirmed hard-rock lithium resources (~400 Mt estimated), placing it in direct strategic competition with Chinese-backed Zijin/La Cominière whose rights over the same deposit are contested in ICSID arbitration by AVZ Minerals.

On 6 February 2026 the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) found that dumped and subsidized imports of cast iron soil pipe from China have caused material injury to the Canadian domestic industry, triggering collection of definitive duties by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). Final anti-dumping duties range from 155.5% to 444.2% of export price by exporter (444.2% for all other exporters), and a flat countervailing (subsidy) duty of 28.5% of export price (equivalent to CNY 1,550.44 per metric tonne) applies to all Chinese exporters. CBSA had initiated the dumping and subsidizing investigation on 11 July 2025 following a complaint from Canada Pipe Company ULC, d.b.a. Bibby-Ste-Croix (Sainte-Croix, Québec), and imposed provisional duties from 9 October 2025 pending the final determination and injury finding.

Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), acting through the Trade Remedies Authority of Vietnam (TRAV), issued Decision 1959/QĐ-BCT on 4 July 2025, imposing definitive anti-dumping duties of 23.10%–27.83% on imports of certain hot-rolled steel coils (HRC) of width up to 1,880 mm originating in China. The measure covers the definitive phase of case AD20, remains in force for five years (to ~July 2030), and simultaneously terminated the parallel investigation on Indian-origin HRC (no duties on India). The same date saw Decision 1958/QĐ-BCT reject a Chinese producer price undertaking proposal.