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

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.

On 13 November 2025, the United States and the Republic of Korea released a Joint Fact Sheet reaffirming the July 2025 announcement of the Korea Strategic Trade and Investment Deal — the first standalone US-Korea trade-and-investment agreement since the 2012 KORUS FTA. USTR issued the implementing Federal Register notice (90 FR 55964, Notice 2025-21940) on 3 December 2025, effective 4 December 2025, with retroactive HTSUS application to 1 November 2025 for autos and auto parts and to 14 November 2025 for reciprocal-tariff goods, timber, lumber, derivatives, and certain aircraft and aircraft parts. On the US tariff side: (i) the country-specific IEEPA reciprocal tariff on Korean originating goods is set at the higher of the KORUS FTA / MFN rate or 15% (parallel to the Japan and EU framework deals); (ii) the Section 232 tariffs on autos, auto parts, timber, lumber and wood derivatives are reduced to 15% (no incremental duty when the pre-existing KORUS/MFN rate already meets or exceeds 15%); (iii) Korean exports of qualifying goods on the Potential Tariff Adjustments for Aligned Partners (PTAAP) list are exempt from reciprocal tariffs (covering generic pharmaceuticals and unavailable natural resources); (iv) Section 232 pharmaceuticals capped at 15%; semiconductors granted MFN-style "no less favourable" treatment in any future sectoral deal. On the investment side, Korea commits to a USD 350bn package: USD 150bn into US shipbuilding ("Approved Investments") plus USD 200bn into US strategic industries via a separate Strategic Investments MOU, with annual currency-funding cap of USD 20bn. Non-tariff commitments include streamlined US biotech approvals on the Korean side, US meat and cheese market access, fair treatment for US digital services, removal of Korea's 50,000-unit cap on US vehicles meeting FMVSS, and joint WTO support for the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions.

President Trump signed Executive Order 14345 on 4 September 2025, implementing the July 2025 US-Japan trade agreement by setting a 15% baseline ad-valorem tariff on nearly all Japanese goods — raising any Column 1 (MFN) duty rate below 15% up to that floor, including on agricultural lines such as cereals, vegetables, and fruits and nuts. The modification applies retroactively to Japanese products entered for consumption on or after 12:01 a.m. EDT, 7 August 2025, and supersedes the higher 24% country-specific reciprocal rate Japan faced under the April 2025 "Liberation Day" schedule. Aerospace products are exempted entirely, autos/auto parts receive the same 15% treatment (down from a separate 25% Section 232 rate), and Japan committed to $550bn in US investment and $8bn/year in additional US agricultural purchases (rice, corn, soybeans, fertilizer, bioethanol) as consideration.

On 27 July 2025, President Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reached political agreement at Turnberry, Scotland, on a Framework Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair and Balanced Trade. The framework was formalised in a Joint Statement published on 21 August 2025 by the White House and DG TRADE. The deal establishes a 15% all-inclusive (MFN + Section 232) US tariff ceiling on the vast majority of EU originating goods — including autos, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, lumber, and chemicals — replacing the threatened 20-30% reciprocal tariff trajectory under EO 14257 (April 2025). Steel and aluminium are excluded from the 15% ceiling and remain at the 50% Section 232 rate pending negotiation of a quota solution. In return, the EU commits to: (i) eliminate tariffs on all US industrial goods, (ii) preferential market access for a wide range of US agricultural and seafood products, (iii) suspension of its rebalancing countermeasures under Reg 2025/778 (suspension effective 7 August 2025), (iv) expected energy offtake of $750bn (LNG, oil, nuclear) through 2028, (v) at least $40bn in US AI chip purchases, and (vi) facilitation of $600bn in additional EU corporate investment into the US through 2028. Effective from 1 September 2025, the US applies MFN-only treatment (no 15% top-up) to: aircraft and parts, generic pharmaceuticals and ingredients, chemical precursors, cork, and certain unavailable natural resources. The framework is not legally binding but anchors the bilateral architecture; it is the largest-economy ART-programme deal alongside US-UK, US-Japan, US-Korea, US-Taiwan, and US-Indonesia.

On 8 May 2025, President Trump and UK Prime Minister Starmer announced the General Terms of the US-UK Economic Prosperity Deal (EPD), the first bilateral framework arrangement of the second Trump administration and the template instrument for subsequent US bilateral framework deals (US-Japan, US-Indonesia, US-Argentina, US-Korea, US-EU). The framework was implemented on 23 June 2025 via Executive Order 14309 (Federal Register doc 2025-11473). Key US concessions: a 100,000-vehicle annual TRQ for UK autos at a 10% combined rate (7.5% + 2.5% MFN, vs. 27.5% Section 232 default); aerospace tariff reduction back to MFN rates; authority delegated to Commerce/USTR to establish UK-only TRQs for steel and aluminum (in lieu of the 50% Section 232 global rate). Key UK concessions: 13,000 mt duty-free beef quota (with 20% tariff removal on the existing 1,000 mt WTO quota); 1.4 billion litre duty-free ethanol quota; commitment to negotiate non-tariff barrier reductions and supply-chain security alignment. The 10% IEEPA "reciprocal" baseline tariff on most other UK goods is preserved by the EPD.