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

On June 2, 2026, USTR published final actionability findings in 60 parallel Section 301(b) investigations — the largest simultaneous Section 301 action in US history — determining that all 60 economies maintain unreasonable acts, policies, or practices by failing to impose or effectively enforce a prohibition on imports produced with forced labor. USTR proposed two additional duty rates: 10% on the 14 economies with partial forced-labor regimes (Canada, Ecuador, EU, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malaysia, Taiwan, UK) and 12.5% on the remaining 46 economies. Tariff rates remain proposed pending a July 7, 2026 public hearing and subsequent finalization; the actionability determination is final.

India and New Zealand signed their first bilateral Free Trade Agreement on 27 April 2026 in New Delhi. New Zealand grants duty-free access to 100% of Indian exports from day one, while India eliminates tariffs on ~95% of New Zealand exports — covering kiwifruit, apples, meat, wool, coal and forestry products — with core dairy (butter, cheese) carved out and milk albumins receiving a 50% tariff cut under quota. Negotiations launched in March 2025 and were concluded in 9 months. The package includes a NZ commitment to invest USD 20 billion in India over 15-20 years and ~5,000 annual Indian work visas for IT, engineering, healthcare, education, construction, traditional medicine, yoga and culinary professions; bilateral trade is targeted to double to USD 5 billion within five years. The agreement is signed but not yet in force pending ratification.

Decreto No. 17-2026, published in La Gaceta No. 37,081 on 27 February 2026, enacts the Ley de Reactivación Económica y Desarrollo Humano — an omnibus statute establishing extraordinary, exceptional, and temporarily-scoped fiscal and financial measures to stimulate economic activity across Honduras's principal productive sectors: export manufacturing (textiles-apparel, automotive-harnesses), agribusiness, tourism, and micro-small-and-medium enterprises (MIPYMES). The law is administered by SAR (Servicio de Administración de Rentas), SDE (Secretaría de Desarrollo Económico), and SEFIN, and operationalises the post-2024-election Castro-administration economic-reactivation legislative agenda alongside companion Decreto No. 2-2026 (RIT five-period extension, La Gaceta No. 37,065). The statute's explicitly temporary and extraordinary character distinguishes it from permanent-regime instruments; its multi-sector coverage spans Honduras's USD 30bn+ GDP economy.

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 9 February 2026 USTR Ambassador Jamieson Greer and Bangladesh Adviser Sheikh Bashir Uddin signed the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) between the United States and Bangladesh in Washington DC — USTR's first ART signing in South Asia, preceding the US-India interim-trade-framework finalisation by three days. The deal locks the US reciprocal tariff on Bangladesh-originating goods at 19% (down from 35% under the April 2025 IEEPA regime) and establishes a zero-percent mechanism for products on the Annex III aligned- partner list (EO 14346, 5 September 2025). Bangladesh commits to significant preferential market access for US industrial and agricultural goods — including chemicals, machinery, motor vehicles, medical devices, ICT equipment, energy products, soy, dairy, beef, poultry, tree nuts, and fruit — and to eliminating specified non- tariff barriers including acceptance of US Federal motor-vehicle safety and emissions standards, FDA certificates, and prior marketing authorisations for medical devices and pharmaceuticals.

Decreto No. 2-2026, published in La Gaceta No. 37,065 on 6 February 2026, extends the Honduran Régimen de Importación Temporal (RIT) — a temporary-import regime permitting duty- and VAT-free importation of inputs, machinery and equipment for export-manufacturing operations — by five additional fiscal periods (2026–2030), covering approximately 124 beneficiary companies whose 12-year RIT validity had expired or was about to expire at end-2025. The decree is administered by SDE (Secretaría de Desarrollo Económico), SEFIN/DGEFA, and ADUANAS (Honduran Customs Administration), which issued a system-configuration circular on 10 February 2026 activating recognition of extended validity periods. Honduras's RIT is the principal fiscal-incentive architecture sustaining the country's US$8 bn+ annual maquila-sector exports under CAFTA-DR, and the extension removes an immediate sunset-risk for textile, apparel, automotive-harness and electronics export-manufacturers operating in Honduran free zones.

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.

Bangladesh's Ministry of Commerce issued the Import Policy Order 2025-2028 on 29 January 2026 following Council of Advisers approval chaired by Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus, replacing the prior Import Policy Order 2021-2024 and establishing a modernised three-year import-management framework under the Imports and Exports (Control) Act 1950. The Order permits export-oriented industries — including ready-made garments, leather, footwear, shipbuilding, and furniture — to import essential raw materials at zero duty through the bonded-warehouse mechanism, mandates full e-customs adoption for all duty and tax collection, and introduces risk-based post-clearance audit protocols. It is explicitly designed as the trade-management vehicle for Bangladesh's LDC graduation (effective November 2026), aligning the import regime with WTO non-tariff- barrier obligations and preparing for the loss of GSP/EBA preferences.