Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2662 actions· ✨ 89 recent

On 29 June 2026 China's Ministry of Commerce issued Announcement No. 27 [2026], adding 20 Japanese entities to the dual-use-item export-control Control List (受控名单) under the Dual-Use Export Control Regulations. The designated entities include four defense research institutes (National Institute for Defense Studies plus ground-, naval- and air-systems research bodies) and 16 companies, primarily Mitsubishi Electric and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries subsidiaries. The Control List designation imposes an absolute prohibition on exporting PRC-origin dual-use items — including rare earths and gallium/germanium/antimony-class strategic minerals — to the listed parties, and bars any third-country transfer of Chinese-origin dual-use items to them; ongoing supply activity must cease immediately, with exceptions only via special MOFCOM application. MOFCOM stated the action targets entities "involved in enhancing Japan's military capabilities."

China's Ministry of Commerce issued Announcement No. 23 of 2026 on June 22, 2026, adding 10 US entities to the Export Control Management List under the Export Control Law and Dual-Use Items Export Control Regulations. The listing prohibits Chinese exporters from supplying dual-use items to these entities and bars any global party from transferring China-origin dual-use goods to them; ongoing transactions are suspended pending MOFCOM approval. The 10 entities include the two largest non-Chinese rare earth producers — MP Materials Corp. (Mountain Pass, CA) and USA Rare Earth Inc. (Round Top, TX) — as well as eight US defence firms (Aveox, Red Cat Holdings, Teal Drones, IMSAR, Jaia Robotics, Ball Aerospace, Oshkosh Defense, L3Harris Maritime). MOFCOM explicitly framed the action as retaliation for the US DoD's June 8, 2026 update to the Section 1260H Chinese Military Companies list, which added ~80 Chinese parent firms and 188 affiliates.

Japan's Diet passed the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act (FEFTA) 2026 Amendment on 29 May 2026; the law was promulgated on 5 June 2026. The amendment represents the most significant overhaul of Japan's inbound FDI screening regime since FEFTA was first applied to national-security transactions in 2019. Three structural additions: (1) indirect-acquisition screening — extends mandatory prior-notification to acquisitions of Japanese sensitive-sector companies effected through intermediate holding structures or offshore parent vehicles, closing the principal gap exploited by Chinese and GCC SWF investors via SPV chains; (2) call-in powers — grants the Minister of Finance authority to open a review up to ten years retroactively where an acquisition was not pre-notified or where circumstances have materially changed since clearance, directly analogous to CFIUS § 721(b)(1)(D) retroactive jurisdiction; (3) cross-ministerial "Japan CFIUS" consultation framework — formally institutionalises a standing inter-agency committee (Finance, METI, MoD, NPA, MIAC) modelled on the US CFIUS committee, replacing the prior ad-hoc inter-ministerial process. Cross-ministerial and indirect-acquisition provisions entered into force immediately on promulgation (5 June 2026); remaining Cabinet-Order-level implementing provisions to follow within one year.

On 4 June 2026 USTR published a formal Notice of Determination in the Federal Register (doc 2026-11158, docket USTR-2025-0043) concluding that Brazil's acts, policies, and practices in six areas — digital trade and electronic payment services, unfair preferential tariffs, anti-corruption enforcement, IP protection, ethanol market access, and illegal deforestation — are unreasonable and burden US commerce. Simultaneously, USTR proposed a 25% ad valorem tariff on all Brazilian-origin goods, subject to ~1,600 HTS subheading exclusions including approximately 430 civil-aircraft lines. A public hearing is scheduled for 6 July 2026 and USTR faces a statutory deadline of 15 July 2026 to finalise any responsive action; the tariff has not yet taken effect.

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.

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.

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.

Brazil's Foreign Trade Chamber Executive Committee (GECEX/CAMEX) published Resolução nº 892 on 7 May 2026 (DOU 8 May 2026), modifying the definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of metallic magnesium in crude forms (magnésio metálico em formas brutas, NCM 8104.11.00 and 8104.19.00) originating in China — originally imposed by Resolução GECEX nº 253 of 24 September 2021. The modification converts the duty collection mechanism to a specific tariff fixed in US dollars per kilogram (alíquota específica fixada em dólares estadunidenses por quilograma), based on Parecer SEI nº 258/2026/MDIC, and was deliberated at GECEX's 236th Ordinary Meeting on 30 April 2026. China accounts for approximately 85% of global primary magnesium production; magnesium is designated a critical material under both CRMA Annex I and the USGS Critical Minerals List, serving as an essential input to aluminium alloys for automotive and aerospace lightweighting and to steel desulphurisation. This resolution is a NEW action on the IPTM register — the original 2021 AD measure (GECEX nº 253) was not previously filed — capturing the current in-force duty alteration as the operative instrument.

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.

Presidential Proclamation 11021 of 2 April 2026 (signed by President Trump, effective 6 April 2026 at 12:01 a.m. EDT, published 9 April 2026 at 91 FR 18201) consolidates and restructures the Section 232 tariff architecture for aluminum, steel, and copper. The proclamation modifies Proclamations 9704 (aluminum), 9705 (steel), and 10962 (copper) and applies tiered ad valorem duties to the full customs value of imported articles regardless of metal content: 50% on aluminum/steel articles and most copper articles; 25% on certain copper articles and on derivative articles substantially made of the three metals; 10% on derivative articles produced abroad using entirely US-smelted/cast metals; and 0% supplemental duty where existing tariffs already meet a 15% combined-rate floor. UK products receive preferential rates (25% on primary articles and 15% on certain derivatives) contingent on UK smelting/casting under the US–UK trade framework.

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.

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.

On 24 February 2026 China's Ministry of Commerce simultaneously issued Announcement No. 11 and Announcement No. 12 [2026], activating for the first time the Control List (受控名单) mechanism under Article 28 and the Watch List (关注名单) mechanism under Article 26 of the Dual-Use Export Control Regulations (effective 1 December 2024), designating 40 Japanese entities in total. The Control List (20 entities, led by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Shipbuilding Co.) imposes an absolute prohibition on any person or entity worldwide supplying PRC-origin dual-use items to listed parties; the Watch List (20 entities, led by SUBARU Corporation) bars general licensing and requires exporters to file risk assessments and non-military-use commitments. MOFCOM framed both measures as a response to Japan's "remilitarization" trajectory, escalating well beyond the blanket enhanced- review framework established by Announcement No. 1 [2026] in January.

President Trump signed a Presidential Proclamation on 20 February 2026 invoking Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. § 2132) to impose a temporary 10% ad-valorem import surcharge on articles imported into the United States, effective 12:01 a.m. EST on 24 February 2026. The proclamation was issued within hours of the US Supreme Court's 20 February 2026 ruling in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, which held that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize the president to set tariffs and vacated the IEEPA-based reciprocal-tariff regime previously in effect. The Section 122 surcharge is statutorily limited to 150 days (terminates 24 July 2026 absent Congressional extension) and the statute caps any such surcharge at 15% ad valorem. Goods qualifying as USMCA originating from Canada or Mexico are exempt; CAFTA-DR textile/apparel articles meeting specified rules of origin are exempt; and a substantial product-exception list excludes critical minerals, energy products, certain pharmaceuticals, electronics, vehicles, aerospace products, specified agricultural goods, and goods already subject to Section 232 duties (the Section 122 duty does not stack on Section 232).

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

On 17 February 2026, Prime Minister Mark Carney launched Canada's first standalone Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS), introducing the "Build–Partner–Buy" framework as the central guiding principle of Canadian defence procurement. The strategy mobilises over half a trillion CAD across the next decade — including ~CAD 180 bn in defence procurement opportunities, ~CAD 290 bn in defence-related capital investment, and ~CAD 125 bn in anticipated downstream economic benefit by 2035 — and targets 125,000 new high-paying jobs. Operationally, the DIS introduces Canadian Content Value (CCV) requirements with a proposed Canadian Company Boost for firms meeting 70–100% domestic-content thresholds, sets a 10-year goal of awarding 70% of defence procurements to Canadian firms, and signals willingness to invoke the national security exception to set aside trade-agreement obligations and exclude foreign bidders for "sovereign capability" contracts. It is the first standalone industrial-strategy document covering the Canadian defence-industrial base, distinct from prior DPA-narrow filings.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed Decree No. 102/2026 on 7 February 2026, enacting an NSDC decision "On the Application of Personal Special Economic and Other Restrictive Measures (Sanctions)" against 27 legal entities: 22 based in Russia and 5 based in China and Hong Kong. The designees are described as active in defense manufacturing, precision engineering, optics, electronics, aerospace, and applied research, technology and banking/trading activity that Ukraine assesses as supporting Russian weapons production and its financing. The decree entered into force on 10 February 2026.

On 2026-02-06 Chongqing municipality launched the "Aerospace-Finance (Chongqing) Aerospace Information Low-Altitude Economy Industry Fund" (航天工融（重庆）空天信息低空经济产业基金), a CNY 2 billion (~USD 288 million) state-guided investment vehicle jointly capitalized by ICBC Investment (工银投资), Aerospace Investment Holdings (航天投资控股), the Chongqing Industrial Mother Fund, and the Liangjiang Fund. It follows a "government guidance + market-based operation" model and is directed at the aerospace-information (satellite/space-tech) and low-altitude economy (drones, eVTOL, general aviation) sectors, building on Chongqing's November 2025 low-altitude-economy state-aid package.

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

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.

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.

The Council of the EU adopted Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/262, implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1529 concerning restrictive measures in view of Iran's military support to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. The listing adds 4 individuals and 6 entities to the EU asset freeze, bringing the total under this regime to 24 individuals and 26 entities. Newly listed entities include Fanavaran Sanat Ertebatat Company and front-company trader Sahara Thunder (UAV electronic components and guidance systems), and Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group, Khojir Missile Development and Production, and procurement firm Pishgaman Tejarat Rafi Novin Co. (ballistic missile manufacturing and propellant-precursor procurement). All funds and economic resources of the listed parties are frozen within the EU, and EU persons/entities are barred from making funds available to them.

The Rajasthan State Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, approved the Rajasthan Aerospace & Defence Policy 2026 on 21 January 2026 in the same session that cleared the Rajasthan Semiconductor Policy 2026. The policy positions Rajasthan as a manufacturing and MRO hub for aircraft, helicopters, drones, missiles, avionics, satellite buses, armoured vehicles, radars, defence electronics, and precision engineering, targeting OEMs, system integrators, MSMEs, and startups under the Make in India / Atmanirbhar Bharat defence-industrial pivot. Projects are tiered (large / mega / ultra-mega) with differentiated incentive menus including capital grants, tax reimbursements, and turnover-linked incentives aligned with national DPEPP and iDEX frameworks.

BIS issued an Interim Final Rule (IFR) on 21 January 2026 (effective 20 January 2026) easing Export Administration Regulations (EAR) controls on certain civil unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and related technology. The IFR makes two changes: (i) ECCN 9A012.a.1 commercial UAVs with maximum endurance under one hour can now be exported License-Free (NLR) to most Wassenaar Arrangement Participating States (Country Group A:1, excluding Malta, Russia, Ukraine), versus the prior limitation to UK / Australia / Canada only; and (ii) License Exception STA (Strategic Trade Authorization) is expanded to cover certain MT-controlled UAVs that cannot deliver a 500kg payload to 300+ km — including long-range cargo-delivery drones and ECCN 9A120 agricultural-spraying UAVs — for export to Country Group A:5 partners and allies. The IFR implements the export-promotion directive in §6 of EO 14307 (Unleashing American Drone Dominance, 6 June 2025). Comment period closes 19 February 2026.

The National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC), Australia's AUD 15 billion sovereign industrial-financing vehicle, took a AUD 75 million preferred-equity cornerstone stake in Gilmour Space Technologies, a Queensland orbital-launch company, announced 20 January 2026. The stake anchors a AUD 217 million capital raise co-led with superannuation fund Hostplus (also AUD 75 million), alongside Future Fund, HESTA, Blackbird, Main Sequence, QIC, Funds SA, NGS Super and Brighter Super, valuing the company at over AUD 1 billion. Proceeds fund development and qualification of Gilmour's Eris orbital launch vehicle, scaling of satellite and rocket manufacturing, and expansion of the Bowen Orbital Spaceport in North Queensland — Australia's only licensed orbital launch facility.

China's Ministry of Finance, NDRC, People's Bank of China and National Financial Regulatory Administration jointly issued Cai Jin [2026] No. 2 on 2026-01-19, optimizing the central-fiscal interest-subsidy policy for equipment-renewal loans. The central government subsidizes 1.5 percentage points of loan principal interest on qualifying fixed-asset loans for equipment-renewal projects, capped at two years, and widens eligible sectors beyond traditional industrial/energy/transport/logistics categories to include construction, AI equipment, aerospace materials, agricultural facilities, cold-chain infrastructure and elderly-care equipment. It also folds bank-originated science-and-technology-innovation loans issued from 2026 (previously supported only via PBOC relending) into the fiscal interest-subsidy scope, and simplifies disbursement via a "pre-disbursement + settlement" mechanism across 26 participating banks. The policy runs through 2026-12-31, extendable.

On January 16, 2026, following Prime Minister Mark Carney's visit to Beijing, Canada and China released a joint "Economic and Trade Cooperation Roadmap" committing both countries to a "healthy, stable and sustainable" trade relationship under a new Strategic Partnership. Canada welcomes Chinese investment in energy, agriculture and consumer products; China welcomes Canadian investment in energy, new materials, aerospace, modern agriculture and advanced manufacturing. Both sides commit to two-way investment and trade in clean and conventional energy and to maintaining open channels to resolve outstanding agricultural trade disputes. The roadmap upgrades the bilateral Joint Economic and Trade Commission to minister-level leadership with annual meetings. It is a political-commitment instrument, not a binding trade agreement, and names no tariff changes, quotas, or specific dollar figures.

On 15 January 2026, the Government of Quebec, through Investissement Québec's ESSOR programme, announced a CAD 35 million repayable, non-forgivable loan to Bombardier to support construction of a new 11,705 m² (126,000 sq ft) manufacturing centre in Dorval, Quebec, as part of a roughly CAD 100 million project. The facility will expand business-jet production capacity and is scheduled to open before the end of 2027, with the province citing more than 330 skilled jobs created in the Montreal region.

On 6 January 2026 China's Ministry of Commerce issued Announcement No. 1 [2026] "On Strengthening Export Controls on Dual-Use Items to Japan" (商务部公告2026年第1号), the first PRC export-control instrument to single out a named country other than the United States. Effective immediately on publication with no wind-down period, the measure prohibits export of all dual-use items under PRC export-control law where the end-user is the Japanese Ministry of Defense or Self-Defense Forces, the end-use is Japanese military, or — under a novel catch-all standard — the transaction would "enhance Japan's military capabilities." The standard is explicitly extraterritorial, covering transfers of PRC-origin dual-use items through third countries and in-country transfers where the end-user / end-use falls within scope. The political trigger was Japanese PM Takaichi's November 2025 Diet remarks framing a Taiwan contingency as a Japanese "survival-threatening situation" justifying SDF deployment.

The Government of Maharashtra, Industries Department, notified the Maharashtra Industry, Investment, and Services Policy-2025 on 31 December 2025, valid for five years and superseding the prior Maharashtra Industrial Policy 2019. The umbrella state-level instrument supports Maharashtra's "trillion-dollar economy by 2030" and "Developed Maharashtra 2047" vision with targets of ₹70.5 lakh crore (~USD 850 bn) cumulative investment, 50 lakh (5 million) jobs across manufacturing and services, and expansion of industry's share of Gross State Value Added to 30%. It is Maharashtra's first-ever combined industry + services + investment-promotion framework (prior policies were industry-only), establishes the unified "Invest Maharashtra" platform and revamped MAITRI 2.0 portal (125+ services, AI investor support, blockchain document verification), and empowers a Cabinet Sub-Committee under the Chief Minister to sanction bespoke customised-package incentives for Mega and Ultra-Mega Projects above the ₹500 crore threshold.

On 30 December 2025, the Estonian Centre for Defence Investments (RKIK), an agency under the Ministry of Defence, signed framework agreements with four companies to build production facilities at the Ermistu Defence Industrial Park in Pärnumaa county. The state commits more than €50 million in core site infrastructure (access roads, electricity grid connections, water/wastewater, perimeter security); the four selected companies are expected to match that with comparable private investment in their own production buildings. Commercial production at all four facilities is scheduled to begin in 2027, establishing Estonia's first domestically-produced ammunition, explosive-charge, short-range air-defence missile, and plastic-explosives capacity in nearly a century.

On 30 December 2025 the General Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government issued Hufubangui [2025] No. 20, a three-year action plan (1 January 2026 - 31 December 2028) to support the transformation and upgrading of advanced manufacturing. The plan sets quantitative targets — 100 new manufacturing enterprises with annual output above CNY 1 billion by 2028 (cumulative 600+), 500 new above-designated-size supply-chain enterprises, 100+ new national-level green factories, a robot density of 600 units per 10,000 workers, and 70%+ digital-equipment penetration — across next-generation electronics, intelligent connected new-energy vehicles, high-end equipment, advanced materials, green low-carbon and fashion consumer-goods industries, plus emerging bets on the low-altitude economy, commercial aerospace, embodied intelligence (robotics) and biomanufacturing. It is funded through tiered direct subsidies rather than tax relief: one-off R&D subsidies up to CNY 10 million, equipment/new-materials cost-share up to 30% of contract value (capped at CNY 20 million), technical- transformation loan/leasing interest support up to CNY 20 million cumulative, and 0.8-1.3% interest subsidies on component/material backup-inventory financing.

The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated 10 individuals and entities in Venezuela and Iran on 30 December 2025 for facilitating Iran's proliferation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and ballistic-missile inputs. Venezuela-based Empresa Aeronautica Nacional SA (EANSA) and its chair, Jose Jesus Urdaneta Gonzalez, were designated for negotiating directly with Iran's Qods Aviation Industries (QAI) and overseeing local assembly of QAI's Mohajer-series UAVs, re-branded in Venezuela as the ANSU series — an arrangement OFAC states has run since 2006. Separately, three Iran-based persons were designated for procuring sodium perchlorate, sebacic acid and nitrocellulose — precursor chemicals for ballistic-missile propellant and warhead production — on behalf of Parchin Chemical Industries (PCI), a unit of Iran's Defense Industries Organization (DIO). The action was taken under Executive Order 13382 (WMD proliferators and supporters) and Executive Order 13949 (Iran conventional-arms activities), in furtherance of National Security Presidential Memorandum 2.

China's State Council Tariff Commission published its annual "2026 Tariff Adjustment Plan" (税委会公告2025年第11号) on 29 December 2025, effective 1 January 2026. The plan sets provisional import tariff rates below MFN levels on 935 products, while cancelling provisional rates on certain other products (reverting them to standard MFN rates). It adds new national tariff subheadings for intelligent bionic robots, bio-aviation kerosene, forest-grown ginseng, and other items, bringing the total tariff schedule to 8,972 lines. The government frames the provisional-rate cuts — covering key components and advanced materials such as CNC hydraulic air cushions for stamping presses, recycled "black powder" (黑粉) lithium-ion battery feedstock, artificial blood vessels and infectious-disease diagnostic kits — as support for "high-level sci-tech self-reliance" and modernisation of the industrial system. China also continues zero-tariff treatment on 100% of tariff lines for the 43 least-developed countries with diplomatic relations with China, and continues Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement preferential rates for Bangladesh, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on 26 December 2025 that it is imposing countermeasures under Articles 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 and 15 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Countering Foreign Sanctions against 20 US defense-related companies and 10 senior executives, in response to the Trump administration's 18 December 2025 announcement of roughly $11.1bn in arms sales to Taiwan — the largest single US weapons package for the island to date. Measures freeze the named entities' assets within China, prohibit organizations and individuals in China from transacting or cooperating with them, and deny visas/entry to the named executives. This is a Foreign Ministry Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law designation, distinct in legal basis from MOFCOM's parallel Unreliable Entity List mechanism used in prior 2025 Taiwan-arms-sale tranches (e.g. the 9 April 2025 six-firm UEL listing).

On 26 December 2025, Japan's Cabinet approved the FY2026 (Reiwa 8) national budget, which Global Trade Alert logs as including a "Next-Generation Aircraft Development Support" financial-grant programme administered by METI, effective with the fiscal year on 1 April 2026 and running through 31 March 2027. The line item corresponds to METI's "Next-Generation Aircraft Development Support Project" (jiki kokuki kaihatsu-to shien jigyo), funded through the Decarbonisation Growth-type Economic Structure Transition Promotion Subsidy (GX Transition Bond proceeds) and disbursed via a designated implementing body to aerospace-supply-chain firms. The FY2026 allocation is JPY 150 billion, up from JPY 81 billion in FY2025 -- an 85% increase -- aimed at strengthening Japan's aircraft-parts and materials supply chain (composites, advanced materials, engine and airframe components) and its international-competitiveness and economic-security positioning in next-generation aircraft programmes.

The US Department of War announced two Defense Production Act (DPA) Title III investments totaling USD 32.7 million to expand the domestic solid rocket motor (SRM) industrial base: USD 27.7 million to R.E. Darling Co., Inc. (REDAR, Tucson, Arizona) to build modernized manufacturing capacity for SRM case insulation materials, and USD 5.0 million to Systima Technologies Inc. (Mukilteo, Washington) to add a dedicated SRM nozzle production line and an optimized cell for complex nozzles. The awards were approved on 30 September 2025 but the public announcement was delayed to 23 December 2025 due to the federal government shutdown. They bring cumulative DPA Title III funding under the related Defense Industrial Base Consortium Other Transaction Agreement solicitation to USD 120.0 million across eight recipients.

The Government of Ontario launched the Critical Minerals Processing Fund (CMPF), a CAD 500 million (~USD 364 million) provincial financial-support program to accelerate processing and refining capacity for critical minerals mined in the province, administered through Invest Ontario. The fund targets nickel, graphite, copper, cobalt and lithium, with a geographic emphasis on the Ring of Fire region northeast of Thunder Bay, and is intended to keep Ontario-mined minerals processed domestically rather than exported raw. It complements a separate CAD 3.1 billion package of loans, guarantees, grants and scholarships supporting Indigenous participation in the province's critical-minerals supply chain, and was first flagged in Ontario's 2025 Budget.

Brazil's national development bank BNDES approved BRL 200 million (~USD 37.6 million) in financing for Eve Air Mobility — the Embraer subsidiary developing an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft — split between BRL 160 million from the Fundo Clima (Climate Fund, Green Industry modality) and BRL 40 million under the FINEM Inovação (Incentivised Line A) facility. The funds finance integration of the aircraft's electric propulsion system and prepare the vehicle for the flight-test campaign required to obtain type certification from Brazil's civil aviation authority ANAC. Since 2022, BNDES has extended more than BRL 1.2 billion in cumulative financing to Eve's eVTOL programme, including support for its Taubaté (SP) production facility.

On 8 December 2025 the Council of the EU gave final approval to Regulation (EU) 2025/2643 establishing the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP), the first dedicated EU defence-industrial regulation. The regulation was signed on 17 December 2025 and entered into force on 30 December 2025 following publication in the Official Journal. EDIP provides EUR 1.5bn in grants for 2025-2027 plus an earmarked EUR 300m Ukraine Support Instrument, sets a statutory cap limiting non-EU/EEA components to 35% of estimated component cost in end-products procured with Union funding, and creates EU-level demand-aggregation, common procurement and security-of-supply frameworks for defence products.

The Canadian federal government announced a Strategic Response Fund contribution of up to CAD 210 million (~USD 151 million) toward a CAD 662 million project to expand semiconductor advanced-packaging and R&D commercialisation capacity at IBM Canada's Bromont, Quebec facility and the MiQro Innovation Collaborative Centre (C2MI). The federal contribution covers roughly one-third of total project cost. Ministers Mélanie Joly (Industry) and Evan Solomon (AI and Digital Innovation) announced the investment on 2025-11-28, framing it around domestic supply-chain resilience for AI/HPC, aerospace and defence, telecommunications, and automotive end-markets. The project is projected to create 75 new highly-skilled jobs and sustain over 1,000 existing jobs in the Bromont region.

On 26 November 2025, Scotland's Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic, Kate Forbes MSP, wrote to the Scottish Parliament's Economy and Fair Work Committee confirming that the preferred bidder for Glasgow Prestwick Airport had withdrawn from the sale process after a "robust commercial deal" had been negotiated. The letter discloses that the proposed acquisition was subject to mandatory notification to the UK Government under the National Security and Investment Act 2021, a reserved matter on which Scottish Ministers cannot comment. Media reporting (Global Trade Alert; Daily Business) identifies the withdrawn bidder as Turkish conglomerate Limak Holding and attributes the collapse directly to the UK national-security review process ("Westminster officials opening an investigation"). The airport, which employs over 500 people directly and anchors an Ayrshire aerospace cluster, remains in Scottish Government public ownership.

On 25 November 2025 China's National Space Administration (CNSA) released a two-year action plan — covering 2025 through 2027 — setting out 22 key measures to formalise and accelerate the development of China's commercial space sector. The plan transitions commercial space policy from a "nurturing" phase (subsidy-pull, loosely regulated) to a "standards-pull / high-quality development" phase, opening national aerospace R&D programmes and launch-infrastructure slots to private operators, establishing a national commercial space development fund, directing government procurement toward commercial launch vehicles and satellites, and unifying previously fragmented provincial regulatory standards. The plan structurally mirrors NASA's COTS/Commercial Crew model and sets commercial operators on course to expand China's ~18% private-firm share of an estimated US$15bn-per-year domestic launch market toward the 2027 horizon aligned with the 15th Five-Year Plan.