Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2667 actions· ✨ 89 recent

The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced on 25 February 2026 that a U.S. person agreed to pay $3,777,000 to settle potential civil liability for 20 apparent egregious violations of the Syrian Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR Part 542) occurring between January 2018 and December 2021. The individual provided managerial services — reviewing and signing financial statements, approving operational and employee expenses, and supervising service-fee collection — as an officer and board member of four Syrian real-estate companies supporting luxury real-estate development projects in Syria. OFAC determined the conduct was egregious and not voluntarily self-disclosed, setting the settlement at 10× the statutory IEEPA base amount per apparent violation (the maximum egregious multiplier) and establishing a significant personal-liability precedent for U.S. persons serving on boards or in officer roles of companies in sanctioned jurisdictions.

Romania's Government adopted Emergency Ordinance nr. 8/2026 on 24 February 2026, published in the Official Gazette (Monitorul Oficial) nr. 147 of 25 February 2026 and entering into force 1 March 2026, committing a EUR 5 billion (~RON 25 bn) horizontal economic-recovery and productive-investment envelope through 2032 structured around nine state-aid schemes, a 200% corporate R&D expense deduction (High-Tech Research Schema), a RON 1 bn Investment and Development Bank (BID) recapitalization, and a RON 1 bn EximBank export-credit allocation. The ordinance frames Romania's pivot "from consumption to investments as the engine of economic growth" and establishes a Strategic Investment tier (minimum RON 1 bn project value) qualifying for the highest-intensity state-aid eligibility, while introducing a 3% tax-compliance bonus and asset-expensing threshold raised to RON 5,000.

Directive (EU) 2026/470 of 24 February 2026, published in the EU Official Journal on 26 February 2026 and entered into force on 18 March 2026, amends the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD, Directive (EU) 2022/2464) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD, Directive (EU) 2024/1760). It raises CSRD scope thresholds to undertakings with more than 1,000 employees and more than EUR 450 million net turnover, raises CSDDD scope thresholds to entities with more than 5,000 employees and EUR 1.5 billion turnover (and non-EU entities with EUR 1.5 billion EU turnover), drops the requirement to adopt or put into effect a climate transition plan under CSDDD, and replaces reasonable-assurance with limited-assurance for CSRD reports. CSRD-related provisions must be transposed by 19 March 2027; CSDDD-related provisions by 26 July 2028.

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.

At the Maiden Mining Local Content Summit held in Takoradi on 18 February 2026, Minerals Commission CEO Isaac Tandoh announced the revocation of more than 300 small-scale mining licences held fraudulently or left dormant, alongside a comprehensive regulatory reset covering all segments of Ghana's mining sector. The reform package includes the repeal of L.I. 2462 (which had permitted mining in forest reserves), introduction of a new medium-scale licensing tier, a sliding-scale gold royalty regime designed to increase state capture during high-price periods, and mandatory local-content thresholds across procurement, employment, and equity participation. Surface-mining operations will be required to use fully Ghanaian-owned contractors; underground-mining contracts must carry at least 50% Ghanaian ownership. The reforms structurally affect large-scale operators including Newmont, AngloGold Ashanti, Zijin Mining, and Atlantic Lithium.

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.

OFAC reached a $1,720,000 civil penalty settlement with IMG Academy LLC on 12 February 2026 to resolve 89 apparent violations of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions Regulations (31 CFR Part 598) arising from tuition-related transactions processed on behalf of two individuals designated as SDNs under the Kingpin Act between 2018 and 2023. OFAC determined the apparent violations were NON-EGREGIOUS and not voluntarily self-disclosed; the penalty reflects substantial cooperation and remedial measures taken by IMG Academy after becoming aware of the violations. This is the first OFAC enforcement action in the register against a US educational or academic-services institution, establishing Kingpin Act SDN-screening obligations for schools and training academies accepting international student tuition payments.

On 7 February 2026 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed Presidential Decree No. 103/2026, enacting a National Security and Defence Council (NSDC) decision to apply personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions) against 42 individuals and 35 legal entities based in Russia, Kyrgyzstan and the United Arab Emirates. The tranche specifically targets the "A7" cryptocurrency payment ecosystem, which Ukraine assesses is used to settle payments for components supplied for Russian missile production, alongside wider financial-sector sanctions-circumvention activity. Designation imposes asset freezes and a bar on commercial transactions and investment instruments involving the designees; the decree entered into force on 10 February 2026.

President Trump signed Executive Order 14382, "Addressing Threats to the United States by the Government of Iran," on 6 February 2026 (effective 12:01 a.m. EST on 7 February 2026; published in the Federal Register on 11 February 2026 as FR doc 2026-02813, 91 FR 6493-6496). Invoking IEEPA, the National Emergencies Act, section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974 and 3 U.S.C. § 301, the order declared a country-specific national emergency with respect to Iran and established a secondary-tariff-authority framework: an additional ad valorem duty (the EO offers "for example, 25 percent" as illustration but sets no binding rate) is authorised on imports of articles produced by any foreign country determined to directly or indirectly purchase, import, or otherwise acquire any goods or services from Iran. Determinations are made by the Secretary of Commerce, with rate recommendations from the Secretary of State in consultation with Treasury, DHS and USTR; the President retains final authority. EO 14382 was structurally modelled on EO 14245 (Venezuelan oil importing countries, 24 March 2025) and EO 14380 (Cuba, 29 January 2026), and was on the list of nine IEEPA-based tariff EOs whose tariff component was vacated by the SCOTUS 6-3 ruling in *Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump* (20 February 2026). The companion EO 14389 of 20 February 2026 ("Ending Certain Tariff Actions") extinguished the tariff authority for entries on or after 12:00 a.m. ET on 24 February 2026; the underlying Iran national- emergency declaration was preserved. No third-country determination or specific rate was operationalised under EO 14382 prior to vacatur.

NHPC Limited (a Government of India Navratna enterprise) published a Request for Proposal (tender reference 2026_NHPC_896635_1), announced and implemented 5 February 2026, for construction works on the Sawalkot Hydroelectric Project in Ramban district, Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, with a disclosed value of INR 5,129.03 crore (~USD 615 million). Per NHPC's standing compliance with the Government of India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, the tender embeds a bid-evaluation local-content preference margin favouring Class-I local suppliers across the civil-engineering, general-construction, and engineering-services categories. Global Trade Alert logs the intervention as a certainly-harmful public-procurement preference margin.

NHAI issued a Request for Proposal for construction of a 6-lane access-controlled greenfield highway from Adgaon to Ahilyanagar in Maharashtra state, valued by Global Trade Alert at INR 6,890.55 crore (~USD 800m). The tender embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction, and engineering-services categories. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented 4 February 2026.

The Beijing Economic-Technological Development Zone (BDA / Yizhuang) Management Committee issued "Several Measures on Accelerating Brain-Computer Interface Technology and Industry Innovation Development" (Jingjiguanfa [2026] No. 2), announced 2026-02-04 and effective 2026-02-06 through 2028-12-31. The package comprises 15 initiatives across three pillars — technology/product development, innovation platform construction, and industrial ecosystem building — aimed at moving the BCI sector from research toward clinical translation and commercialization, positioning Yizhuang as a leading domestic and internationally recognized BCI technology and industry hub. It applies to entities legally operating in Yizhuang New City engaged in BCI R&D, product manufacturing, or platform services. No specific monetary figures are disclosed in the published policy interpretation.

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.

The Canada Border Services Agency initiated an anti-dumping investigation (Case OCTG6 2026 IN) on 2 February 2026 into oil and gas well casing originating in or exported from Austria, following a complaint by Tenaris Canada. On 4 May 2026 the CBSA issued a preliminary determination finding a dumping margin of 22.6% of export price for Voestalpine Tubulars GmbH & Co KG, the sole named Austrian exporter, but declined to impose provisional duties, assessing that they were "not necessary to prevent injury." The case covers oil and gas well casing under 28 HS tariff classification codes (7304.29.00.12-.29 and 7306.29.00.12-.29). The Canadian International Trade Tribunal's parallel injury inquiry (NQ-2026-002) is due to conclude by 1 September 2026; only a positive injury finding triggers definitive duties.

As part of the Union Budget 2026-27 tabled on 1 February 2026, India's Ministry of Defence budgeted INR 1,540.05 crore (~USD 178.4 million) in FY2026-27 "Investment in Public Enterprises" equity capital for the seven defence public-sector undertakings created from the October 2021 corporatisation of the former Ordnance Factory Board: Munitions India Limited (INR 745.50 crore), Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Limited (INR 329.00 crore), Yantra India Limited (INR 228.00 crore), Armoured Vehicles Nigam Limited/AVANI (INR 219.05 crore), Troop Comforts Limited (INR 10.00 crore), India Optel Limited (INR 6.00 crore), and Gliders India Limited (INR 2.50 crore). The figures appear under Demand No. 21 (Capital Outlay on Defence Services) of the Notes on Demands for Grants, 2026-2027, published by the Ministry of Finance's Department of Economic Affairs.

The Fujian Provincial Development and Reform Commission issued Min Fagai Shuju [2026] No. 46, "Ten Measures to Strengthen the Cultivation of Digital-Economy Innovative Enterprises in Fujian Province," on 2026-01-30, implementing a national NDRC directive (Fagai Shuju [2025] No. 1154) at provincial level. The package bundles ten fiscal, financial, data-access and talent measures aimed at growing Fujian's roster of "unicorn" and "gazelle" digital enterprises from 89 (2020) to a targeted 500+ by 2027, with per-project subsidy caps ranging from RMB 500,000 up to RMB 10,000,000 across different tracks (trusted-data-space pilots, joint labs/tech-transfer platforms, digital-transformation demonstration projects capped at 30% of total project investment). The measure took effect on issuance and is in force through 2028-12-31 (GTA state-act revocation date).

Malaysia replaced its four-decade-old Promotion of Investments Act (PIA) 1986 manufacturing-incentive regime with the New Incentive Framework (NIF), effective 1 March 2026. Applications under PIA 1986 closed at 15:00 MYT on 28 February 2026; post-March applications are evaluated under the outcome-based National Investment Aspirations (NIA) Scorecard across six economic-outcome pillars. Companies choose between two mutually exclusive incentive options — a special corporate tax rate or an investment tax allowance — aligned with the Global Minimum Tax environment. A services-sector phase is scheduled for Q2 2026.

On 29 January 2026, the Council of the European Union adopted Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/267 and the accompanying Council Decision, implementing the EU's Iran human-rights restrictive-measures regime (Regulation (EU) No 359/2011, in place since 2011 and renewed annually). The package designates 15 individuals and 6 entities over the violent repression of peaceful protests, arbitrary detention, and internet/media censorship in Iran, bringing the regime's cumulative total to 24 individuals and 26 entities. The six newly listed entities are the Iranian Audio-Visual Media Regulatory Authority (SATRA), the IRGC-linked Seraj Cyberspace Organization, the Working Group for Determining Instances of Criminal Content (WGDICC), Yaftar Pazhohan Pishtaz Rayanesh Limited Company, Douran Software Technologies, and Masaf Institute. Designated parties are subject to an EU-wide asset freeze and a prohibition on making funds or economic resources available to them; listed individuals additionally face a travel ban.

The Hong Kong government launched the Pilot Innovation and Technology Accelerator Scheme (PITAS) on 29 January 2026, an HKD 180 million (approx. USD 23 million) matching-grant programme administered by the Innovation and Technology Commission. The scheme provides funding support on a one-to-two matching basis between the government and the applicant, capped at HKD 30 million per approved project, to attract professional innovation and technology (I&T) enterprise service providers with proven accelerator track records to set up startup-accelerator bases in Hong Kong. Applications close 30 April 2026.

On 29 January 2026 Switzerland's Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (WBF) amended Annex 28 of the Ordinance on Measures Relating to the Situation in Ukraine (SR 946.231.176.72), lowering the price cap on Russian seaborne crude oil from USD 47.6 to USD 44.1 per barrel, effective 1 February 2026. The amendment prohibits Swiss-domiciled operators from providing financial and transport (maritime, insurance, brokering) services related to Russian crude oil priced above the new cap. Switzerland is not an EU member but autonomously aligns its Ukraine Ordinance with EU sanctions packages; this cut mirrors the EU's Implementing Regulation 2026/124 and the UK OFSI general licence amendment adopted two weeks earlier under the same six-monthly dynamic-adjustment formula.

On 9 February 2026 the UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) published a comprehensively revised enforcement and monetary-penalties guidance following its July–October 2025 public consultation. The update introduces a Settlement Scheme (20% penalty discount for subjects who agree not to contest OFSI's findings within 30 business days), an Early Account Scheme (up to 20% discount for legal persons providing a timely senior-attested factual account), a revised voluntary-disclosure framework (maximum discount cut from 50% to 30% and renamed to cover both prompt self-reporting and full cooperation), a four-level case-assessment seriousness matrix (severity × conduct), and fixed monetary penalties of £5,000 and £10,000 for information, reporting, and licensing offences. A planned legislative amendment (requiring primary legislation) will subsequently double the statutory civil monetary-penalty cap from £1m / 50%-of-breach to £2m / 100%-of-breach; in the interim the Policing and Crime Act 2017 caps remain in force. The revised guidance is the foundational enforcement architecture for all UK financial-sanctions programs (Russia, Iran, DPRK, Syria, Belarus, Myanmar, and 10+ additional regimes).

Germany's first cross-sector federal statute establishing minimum requirements for the physical protection and resilience of critical infrastructure operators (KRITIS) — sectors covered include energy, transport, water, food, ICT, financial services, health, and federal government infrastructure. Transposes EU Directive 2022/2557 (CER Directive on the resilience of critical entities). Identifies operators of critical facilities with Europe-wide significance, mandates national risk analyses for critical services, requires operator risk-management measures and creates a federal incident-reporting regime. Passed by the Bundestag on 29 January 2026, confirmed by the Bundesrat on 6 March 2026, published in BGBl. 2026 I Nr. 66 on 16 March 2026, in force from 17 March 2026.

On 27 January 2026 the European Union and India announced the conclusion of negotiations on a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement at the EU-India summit hosted at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, attended by PM Narendra Modi, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President António Costa. The deal — described by both leaders as the "mother of all deals" — covers ~25% of world GDP and ~2 billion people. The EU eliminates duties on 91% of tariff lines (covering 99.3% of bilateral trade by value); India eliminates duties on 86% of lines (covering 96.6% by value). Headline cuts include Indian tariffs on EU wines (150% → 75% at entry into force, falling to 20%), olive oil (45% → 0% over five years) and processed agri-food (up to 50% eliminated); EU tariffs are reduced/eliminated on Indian textiles, leather/footwear, gems and jewelry, marine products, tea, coffee, spices and certain agricultural and steel products. The agreement still requires Council adoption, European Parliament consent and approval by India's Union Council of Ministers; entry into force is expected in early 2027. Companion instruments concluded at the same summit include an EU-India Security and Defence Partnership and a Mobility and Migration Agreement.

On 26 January 2026 Beijing's Dongcheng District (via the Zhongguancun Science Park Dongcheng Zone Management Committee and the district Science and Technology Commission) issued Notice 东城园文〔2026〕2号, "Several Measures of Beijing Dongcheng District on Promoting High-Quality Development of the Pharmaceutical and Health Industry," effective 25 February 2026. The 14-article package spans seven chapters covering traditional-Chinese-medicine industry development, product-innovation value realisation, digital medical services, innovative-medicine support, and talent services, with cash grants of up to RMB 20 million per project and up to RMB 10 million per year for a single market entity in the medical-device segment. A draft version was open for public comment from 18 December 2025 to 17 January 2026 before formal issuance.

On 10 November 2025, OFSI imposed a £160,000 monetary penalty on Bank of Scotland Plc (a Lloyds Banking Group subsidiary trading as Halifax) for processing 24 payments totalling over £77,000 in February 2023 to and from a personal current account held by Dmitrii Ovsyannikov, a designated person under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, in breach of Regulations 11 and 12. The screening failure arose because Ovsyannikov had opened the account under a UK-passport spelling variant of his name that defeated Halifax's exact-string sanctions-screen. The base penalty of £320,000 was halved to £160,000 following a 50% voluntary-disclosure discount after Lloyds Banking Group self-reported the breach. The penalty notice was published on 26 January 2026 and OFSI issued a compliance-lessons blog post on 23 February 2026.

The New Development Bank (NDB), the BRICS-founded multilateral development bank headquartered in Shanghai, signed a USD 100 million equivalent, five-year RMB-denominated loan agreement with Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank Co Ltd for the "Greener Shanghai Project." The facility is an on-lending line: Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank will channel the proceeds to sustainable sub-projects across the city, including wind and solar power, environmental-conservation infrastructure, and digital-infrastructure development, expected to benefit roughly 25 million residents of Shanghai and the wider Yangtze River Delta. NDB below-market development-bank pricing functions as an indirect state-adjacent subsidy for Shanghai's green and digital-infrastructure build-out.

Turkey's Public Procurement Authority published Communiqué No. 2026/1 in the Official Gazette (22 January 2026, Gazette No. 33145), raising the monetary thresholds and limits under Public Procurement Law No. 4734 by 27.67% — the December 2025 year-on-year change in the domestic producer price index (Yİ-ÜFE), applied per the Law's Article 67 mandatory annual indexation mechanism. The revised thresholds apply from 1 February 2026 through 31 January 2027, including an international-tender threshold of TL 18,734,124 for general-budget goods/services procurement and TL 686,924,429 for construction/works tenders. Global Trade Alert logged the update as a public-procurement-access intervention because raising the monetary bands widens the range of below-threshold tenders eligible for domestic-restricted procedures.

Brazil's national development bank BNDES approved a BRL 1.981 billion (~USD 374 million) financing operation, drawn from the Merchant Marine Fund (Fundo da Marinha Mercante, FMM), for Bram Offshore Transportes Marítimos Ltda — a subsidiary of the US-headquartered Edison Chouest Offshore group and Brazil's largest offshore-support vessel operator. The loan funds the newbuild construction, by July 2028, of six diesel-electric hybrid PSV 5000-class support vessels at the Navship shipyard in Navegantes, Santa Catarina, chartered to Petrobras under 12-year contracts. The project is expected to create 620 direct shipyard jobs during construction and 190 direct operational jobs at Bram.

India's Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) issued a Request for Proposal (tender ref. 215/13Yata-NH-10//2025) for a road-widening project, valued by Global Trade Alert at INR 263.27 crore (~USD 31.5m). The tender embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction, and engineering-services categories. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented 20 January 2026.

China's Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce, People's Bank of China and National Financial Regulatory Administration jointly issued Cai Jin [2026] No. 5 on 2026-01-19, optimizing the service-sector loan interest-subsidy policy first launched in August 2025 (Cai Jin [2025] No. 81). The notice extends the scheme through 2026-12-31, raises the per-entity eligible new-loan cap for 2026 to RMB 10 million (subsidy period capped at one year, annual subsidy rate of 1 percentage point, funded 90% by central and 10% by provincial finances), and widens covered sectors from the original eight (catering/accommodation, health, eldercare, childcare, domestic services, culture/entertainment, tourism, sports) to add digital, green and retail categories. It also expands the roster of handling banks to a longer list of state and joint-stock commercial banks.

On 19 January 2026 the Government of Vietnam issued Decree No. 29/2026/ND-CP, establishing the regulatory architecture for Vietnam's first domestic carbon trading exchange. The decree (6 chapters, 35 articles) governs registration, domestic coding, ownership transfer, custody, trading and settlement of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission quotas and eligible carbon credits. The Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) operates the trading platform and the Vietnam Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation (VSDC) handles registration, custody and settlement, with a pilot phase running through 31 December 2028 (no exchange-services fee) ahead of full commercialisation from 1 January 2029.

NHAI issued a tender (ref. NHAI/Tech/Del/MRT/174600) for road construction in Uttar Pradesh state, valued by Global Trade Alert at INR 194.35 crore. The tender embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction, and engineering-services categories. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented 16 January 2026.

On 16 January 2026, the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated 21 individuals and entities and identified one vessel for transferring oil products, procuring weapons and dual-use equipment, and providing financial services to Iran-backed Ansarallah (the Houthis). Designated parties — oil-trading and exchange companies, a shipping/logistics facilitator, and front-company operatives — are based in Yemen, Oman, and the UAE, and are accused of running an oil-sales and financial- facilitation network that Treasury says generates the Houthis over $2 billion in annual illicit revenue. The action was taken pursuant to Executive Order 13224 (as amended) and builds on a multi-year cadence of prior OFAC designations against Houthi leaders, smugglers, financiers, and weapons-procurement suppliers.

The People's Bank of China announced on 2026-01-15 that it is widening the scope of its Carbon Emission Reduction Support Tool (碳减排支持工具) to cover energy-saving retrofits, green upgrades, and energy green low-carbon transformation projects with direct carbon-reduction effects. The tool operates on a quarterly basis, providing one-year relending funds to financial institutions at below-market rates against qualifying green loans they extend, with total annual operation volume capped at CNY 800 billion (approximately USD 115 billion). PBOC sets each quarter's operation volume based on monetary-policy needs and financial institutions' actual lending to the newly-widened set of supported project categories.

At a 2026-01-15 State Council Information Office press conference, PBOC Deputy Governor and spokesperson Zou Lan announced eight structural monetary-policy measures, including a CNY 500 billion increase to the agriculture/small-business relending-and-rediscount facility (支农支小 再贷款), within which a new CNY 1 trillion private-enterprise relending line (民营企业再贷款) is carved out to target small and medium-sized private firms specifically. The PBOC also cut relending/rediscount rates across all structural tools by 0.25 percentage points effective 2026-01-19 (one-year relending rate down from 1.5% to 1.25%).

On 14 January 2026 the European Commission adopted Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/124, amending Annex XXVIII to Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014, lowering the price cap on seaborne Russian crude oil (CN code 2709 00) from USD 47.6 to USD 44.1 per barrel, effective 1 February 2026. This is the first application of the automatic dynamic-adjustment mechanism introduced by the 18th sanctions package (Council Regulation (EU) 2025/1494, July 2025), which re-indexes the cap every six months to 15% below the 22-week trailing average Urals market price. Contracts concluded before 31 January 2026 with cargo offloaded by 16 April 2026 remain subject to the prior USD 47.60/bbl cap. The UK aligned with an equivalent reduction the same day.

NHPC Limited issued Notice Inviting e-Tender No. 2026_NHPC_894115_1 (registered ~12 January 2026, corrigendum 19 January 2026) for "Development of Power Evacuation Infrastructure for 1200MW Jalaun Solar Park" — three 33/400 kV pooling substations and associated transmission works for the Bundelkhand Saur Urja Limited (BSUL) solar park, a joint venture between NHPC and the Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPNEDA). Global Trade Alert values the tender at INR 614.21 crore. Per NHPC's standing compliance with the Government of India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, bidders must certify minimum local content, giving Class-I local suppliers a bid-evaluation preference margin. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented 15 January 2026.

Law No. 4 of 15 January 2026 (Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 15 of 20 January 2026, in force 21 January 2026) converted with amendments Decree-Law No. 175 of 21 November 2025 ("Transizione 5.0"). During parliamentary conversion the Camera dei Deputati inserted a new Article 2-bis that materially expands Italy's Golden Power foreign-investment screening regime (DL 21/2012) into the financial, credit, and insurance sectors — the first explicit statutory inclusion of banking and insurance qualifying-holding transactions inside the Golden Power perimeter. The amendment introduces "national economic and financial security" as a public-order criterion alongside the traditional security and public-order profiles, and conditions exercise of special powers in the financial sector on the prior conclusion of pending European prudential and competition proceedings (ECB / EIOPA / EU Commission).

On 15 January 2026 the UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), acting under regulation 64 of the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, amended the 'Oil Price Cap' General Licence (INT/2024/4423849) to lower the price cap on Russian seaborne crude oil from USD 47.60 to USD 44.10 per barrel, effective 23:01 on 31 January 2026. Contracts signed at the prior USD 47.60 cap before that time are subject to a wind-down period, remaining valid provided the oil is offloaded at the port of destination by 22:59 on 16 April 2026. The cut applies the six-monthly dynamic-adjustment formula (15% below the 22-week trailing average Urals price) and was announced in lockstep with the EU's equivalent Implementing Regulation 2026/124.

The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated 18 individuals and entities that make up the "rahbar" shadow-banking networks of sanctioned Iranian banks Bank Melli and Shahr Bank, including Singapore-based Golden Mist PTE Ltd, UAE-based Empire International Trading FZE and HMS Trading FZE, Iran-based Nikan Pezhvak Aria Kish Company and Tejarat Hermes Energy Qeshm, and UK-based Nanshan Ltd. Separately, OFAC designated senior Iranian security officials, including SCNS Secretary Ali Larijani, for their role in the regime's violent crackdown on peaceful protesters that began in December 2025. The financial designations were made under E.O. 13902 (Iran's financial/petroleum/petrochemical sectors) and the human-rights designations under E.O. 13553 and E.O. 13876, in furtherance of NSPM-2; Treasury noted it sanctioned more than 875 persons, vessels, and aircraft under the same maximum-pressure campaign in 2025.

Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) issued a tender (RFP ref. BMRCL/Phase-3/P3/Double Decker/2026/145, 13 January 2026) for construction of elevated structures — metro viaduct, rail-cum-road flyover, and stations spanning approximately 6.652 km — as part of the Bangalore Metro Phase 3 double-decker corridor, with a disclosed contract value of INR 1,415.65 crore (~USD 165-170 million). The tender embeds a domestic-supplier local-content preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, restricting bid-evaluation advantage toward Class-I local suppliers across the civil-engineering, general-construction, and engineering-services categories. Global Trade Alert records the intervention as announced and implemented on 13 January 2026.

The British Business Bank, the UK government's state-owned economic development bank, committed GBP 34 million (USD 45.7 million) to WestBridge III, a lower-mid-market private equity fund managed by WestBridge, announced 13 January 2026. The commitment helped the fund reach its GBP 225 million hard cap, up from WestBridge II's GBP 102 million final close (which itself included a GBP 15 million BBB commitment in 2017). WestBridge targets high-growth, tech-enabled B2B companies outside London and the South East, typically investing GBP 10-40 million per deal.

FinCEN issued a Geographic Targeting Order (GTO) under 31 U.S.C. § 5326 requiring banks and money transmitters located in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties, Minnesota (i.e., Minneapolis–St. Paul metro) to file reports with FinCEN on transactions of $3,000 or more where the beneficiary is located outside the United States. The order is effective February 12, 2026 through August 10, 2026 and is paired with a parallel Treasury/IRS audit and enforcement push targeting alleged government-benefits fraud (notably the federal child-nutrition program rings under prosecution in Minnesota since 2022). It is the second high-profile FinCEN GTO of the Trump 2.0 administration after the Southwest-border MSB GTO.

On 12 January 2026 India's Ministry of Road Transport and Highways published a Request for Proposal (ref. TN.No.25/HDO/NH/2025-26/) for a flyover-construction project in Tamil Nadu valued at INR 116.78 crore (~USD 13.6 million), embedding a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, across civil-engineering, general-construction, and engineering-services categories. Global Trade Alert records the intervention as announced/implemented 12 January 2026, in force, with no revocation date; full tender terms sit behind GTA's account-gated view.

On 12 January 2026 the National Highways Authority of India published a Request for Proposal (ref. RW/NH-12014/08/2025-RJ/ZONE WEST) for a road-construction project in Rajasthan valued at INR 481.35 crore (~USD 56 million), embedding a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, across civil-engineering, general-construction, and engineering-services categories. Global Trade Alert records the intervention as announced/implemented 12 January 2026, in force, with no revocation date; full tender terms sit behind GTA's account-gated view.

On 12 January 2026 India's National Highways Authority of India issued a Request for Proposal (ref. RW/JAI/RJ/RO/AP/2024-25/138) for a road-construction project in Rajasthan valued at INR 633.99 crore (~USD 76 million), embedding a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, across civil-engineering, general-construction, and engineering-services categories. Global Trade Alert records the intervention as announced/implemented 12 January 2026, in force, with no revocation date; full tender terms sit behind GTA's account-gated view.

On 12 January 2026 the National Highways Authority of India (Zone West, Rajasthan) published a Request for Proposal (ref. RW/NH-12014/11/2025-RJ/ZONE-WEST) for a road-construction project in Rajasthan valued at INR 883.21 crore (~USD 103 million), embedding a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, across civil-engineering, general-construction, and support-services categories. Global Trade Alert records the intervention as announced/implemented 12 January 2026, in force, with no revocation date; full tender terms sit behind GTA's account-gated view.

On 12 January 2026 NHPC Limited (a Government of India enterprise) launched a tender for civil works on the Kamala Hydroelectric Project (1,720 MW, Kamle district, Arunachal Pradesh) valued at INR 3,137.8 crore (~USD 378 million), embedding a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, across general-construction and civil-engineering categories. Global Trade Alert records the intervention as announced/implemented 12 January 2026, in force, with no revocation date; full tender terms sit behind GTA's account-gated view.

On 12 January 2026 Switzerland's Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (WBF) amended Annexes 8, 14, 15b and 33 of the Ordinance on Measures in Connection with the Situation in Ukraine, with effect from 23:00 on 13 January 2026. The amendment adds 5 natural persons, 4 organisations (one Vietnam-based, three based in the UAE and Russia), and 41 vessels to the asset-freeze and port-access-prohibition annexes, and makes technical corrections to 7 existing entries. The measure is a routine incremental listing update continuing Switzerland's autonomous alignment with the EU's Russia sanctions regime, following the first EU 19th-package tranche adopted 12 December 2025 ([switzerland-19th-eu-sanctions-package-december-listings](2025-12-12-switzerland-19th-eu-sanctions-package-december-listings.md)) and preceding the substantive package completion of 25 February 2026 ([switzerland-19th-eu-sanctions-package-russia-belarus](2026-02-25-switzerland-19th-eu-sanctions-package-russia-belarus.md)).

North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO), a Government of India enterprise, published a public-procurement tender on 9 January 2026 for Power House Electro-Mechanical Works on the 3x80 MW Heo Hydro Electric Project (Shi Yomi District, Arunachal Pradesh) that embeds a domestic-supplier local-content requirement under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017. Global Trade Alert records the intervention as announced and implemented the same day. The underlying EM-works tender (NIB No. 477, dated 26 February 2025, Tender ID 2025_NEEPC_228155_1) was independently located via third-party tender-aggregator listings, though its specific local-content percentage sits in the full RFP document rather than in public summaries.