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

Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Foreign Trade (GAFT), under Chairman Dr. Majed Alkassabi, issued a final affirmative determination imposing definitive anti-dumping duties on Sulphonated Naphthalene Formaldehyde (SNF) — a concrete superplasticiser/water- reducing admixture — originating in or exported from China and Russia. The decision was published in the official gazette on 2 December 2024 and took effect 3 December 2024, directing the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority to collect duties in the range of 18.12%-34% for five years (to 2 December 2029). The investigation was initiated 20 November 2023 following a complaint from the Saudi domestic industry.

In two consecutive sectoral notifications, Pakistan's Special Technology Zones Authority (STZA) — a federal body under the Cabinet Division — formally declared two additional Special Technology Zones. The Khanpur Industrial Project (Mumrial, Khanpur, District Haripur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; ~197 acres / 199,174 sq ft of existing and proposed infrastructure) was notified on 12 September 2024. The LEOS Technology Zone (Lehtrar Road, Nilore, Islamabad; 19.23 acres / 225,562 sq ft) was notified on 8 November 2024. Both zones operate under the Special Technology Zones Authority Act, 2021 incentive regime, which provides Zone Enterprises and Zone Developers a 10-year exemption from income tax, customs duty on capital-goods imports, and sales tax (under the Customs Act 1969, Income Tax Ordinance 2001 and Sales Tax Act 1990), together with eligibility for Special Forex Accounts under State Bank of Pakistan regulations (no requirement to convert USD inflows to PKR). The umbrella incentive window for the STZA regime runs until 30 June 2035, with each zone enterprise's 10-year clock starting from the date the zone developer certifies commercial operation.

Guinean customs authorities suspended bauxite exports from Guinea Alumina Corporation (GAC, a subsidiary of UAE's Emirates Global Aluminium) on 11 October 2024, following unresolved disputes over GAC's non-compliance with its base convention's alumina refinery-development obligation. EGA said it was "seeking clarity from customs on the reason for this action." The suspension cut GAC's annual bauxite exports from 14.1 million wet metric tonnes in 2023 to 10.8 million wet metric tonnes in 2024 and forced EGA to record a AED 1.8 billion ($488 million) impairment on GAC's book value. The suspension was the opening move in a sequence that escalated to full concession revocation in August 2025 and was formally resolved by an amicable settlement in May 2026.

The Türkiye Ministry of Trade's Imports General Directorate published Communiqué No. 2024/33 in Resmî Gazete No. 32689 on 11 October 2024, imposing definitive ad valorem anti-dumping duties on hot-rolled flat steel products originating in the People's Republic of China, India, Japan and the Russian Federation. Duties range from 6.10% to 43.31% CIF and run for a five-year initial term from the date of publication, subject to interim or expiry review. The measure covers roughly 90 tariff lines under CN/HS chapters 7208, 7211, 7212, 7225 and 7226 — the principal hot-rolled flat-steel customs codes. China-origin producers face the widest dispersion (residual 43.31% on unsampled producers, named-producer rates 15–36%); Japan applies a flat 9% to all producers; India and Russia residuals sit at 9% with named- producer rates as low as 6.0–6.10%. Imports of "plate rolled in a plate mill" accompanied by a Producer's Certificate under Notice 2002/1 are exempt. The petition was filed by TÇÜD (Türkiye Çelik Üreticileri Derneği — Turkish Steel Producers' Association) on behalf of integrated mills Erdemir, İsdemir, Çolakoğlu, Habaş and Tosçelik, and addresses Chinese HRC diversion to the Türkiye market following US Section 232 steel tariffs and EU CBAM/safeguard tightening.

Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Circular 18/2024/TT-BCT on 8 October 2024, suspending the temporary-import, re-export, and transit ("tạm nhập, tái xuất, chuyển khẩu") trade of a list of scrap materials keyed to the HS-based commodity list in Ministry of Finance Circular 31/2022/TT-BTC. The suspension runs 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2029. It targets traders using Vietnam as an entrepot for scrap shipments rather than domestic recyclers, and does not apply to genuine transit trade where goods move directly from the exporting to the importing country without clearing Vietnamese customs. The stated purpose is to prevent environmental contamination, curb trade fraud, and stop Vietnam becoming a dumping ground for scrap/waste from other countries.

Governor in Council made the China Surtax Order (2024) (SOR/2024-187) on 20 September 2024 under subsection 53(2) of the Customs Tariff, imposing a 100% surtax on Chinese-origin electric and certain hybrid passenger automobiles, trucks, buses, and delivery vans (HS chapters 87.02–87.04) effective 1 October 2024. An amending order (SOR/2024-202, registered 11 October 2024) extended a 25% surtax to a defined list of Chinese-origin steel and aluminum products (HS chapters 72 and 76) effective 22 October 2024. Canada framed the measures as a response to Chinese state-led overcapacity, non-market subsidies, and weak labour/environment standards, and explicitly aligned them with the US Section 301 hike and the EU's parallel anti-subsidy duties on Chinese EVs.

The Defence and Strategic Goods List (DSGL) 2024 was registered on the Federal Register of Legislation on 16 August 2024 under the Customs Act 1901 and Defence Trade Controls Act 2012, repealing and replacing the DSGL 2021. It comprises the Munitions List (Part 1) and the Dual-Use List (Part 2, nine technology categories including nuclear materials, chemicals, electronics, sensors and marine and aerospace equipment) that Australia controls for export, brokering and intangible transfer. The 2024 instrument periodically realigns the list with changes agreed in the multilateral non-proliferation and export-control regimes Australia belongs to (Wassenaar Arrangement, Missile Technology Control Regime, Nuclear Suppliers Group, Australia Group); most changes are clarifications to existing controls, with a smaller number of items entering or leaving control or having their approval requirements adjusted.

China's Ministry of Commerce and General Administration of Customs jointly issued Announcement No. 33 of 2024 on 15 August 2024, imposing an export licensing regime on antimony ore, antimony metal, antimony oxides (purity ≥99.99%), organic antimony compounds, antimony hydride, indium antimonide, and gold-antimony smelting technology, effective 15 September 2024. The announcement also covers six-sided top-press equipment used in superhard-materials (diamond, cubic boron nitride) production. China accounts for approximately 47% of global antimony mine output and an estimated 75-80% of refined antimony supply; in the months following implementation, Chinese antimony export volumes fell by approximately 97% and global antimony trioxide spot prices roughly doubled.

On 26 July 2024 President Erdoğan unveiled the HIT-30 (High-Technology Investment Programme), Türkiye's largest single industrial-finance instrument since the 2018 Investment Office reform, allocating USD 30 billion in state support over 2024-2030 to attract investment across 37 priority programmes spanning electric vehicles, batteries, semiconductors, solar/wind energy, green hydrogen, hyperscale data centres, biotechnological medicine, industrial robotics, and R&D. The Ministry of Industry and Technology is the operating agency, with the Industrialization Executive Committee chaired by the President providing high-level oversight; an Industrialisation Executive Committee under the President directs sectoral allocations. Headline tools include USD 4.5bn earmarked for an 80 GWh battery-manufacturing capacity (with USD 6,000/MWh grants through 2030), USD 2.5bn for 15 GW of domestic solar-cell capacity, USD 1.7bn for wind-component manufacturing, USD 1bn for top-1000 corporate R&D centre support (covering 50% of personnel costs for 5 years), corporate tax reductions, social-security-contribution coverage, energy-cost subsidies covering 50% of bills for energy-intensive projects, customs/VAT exemptions, and free or discounted land allocation in organised industrial zones. Programme targets at least USD 20bn in private-sector co-investment.

President Lukashenko signed Decree No. 278 on 10 July 2024, extending the prohibitive import customs duty regime established under Decree No. 16 (12 January 2024) through 30 June 2025, preventing its lapse at year-end 2024. The decree also expands the commodity list subject to elevated import duty rates. The measure explicitly frames the duties as retaliatory, targeting goods originating from states designated as "unfriendly" to Belarus — principally EU member states, the US, UK, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and other sanctioning jurisdictions. Co-ordinated with Russia's EAEU parallel-import framework (Resolution No. 506), the regime affects the cost arithmetic for sanctioned-goods routing through EAEU customs-union channels and signals continued institutionalisation of Belarus's counter-sanctions architecture.

The National Assembly of the Lao PDR adopted the amended Law on Investment Promotion (No. 62/NA) on 28 June 2024; it entered into force on 16 December 2024, replacing the 2016 Investment Promotion Law and the 2019 Article-12 amendment. The statute spans 13 parts and 109 articles (62 amended, 32 new) and establishes the foundational legal architecture for domestic and foreign investment in Laos, setting out promotion categories, fiscal-incentive regimes, one-stop-service approval pathways, and investor-protection guarantees. Key reforms tighten the framework for large strategic-sector FDI in mining and hydropower — requiring partial state ownership — while expanding CIT/tax-holiday and customs-duty exemptions by SEZ category and sector-promotion zone. The law operationalises the Investment Promotion and Management Committee (IPMC) as the one-stop regulatory authority, enhancing alignment with the Lao-China Railway-driven Chinese-FDI surge and positioning Laos within the ASEAN horizontal investment-promotion reform wave.

Lei 14.902/2024, sanctioned 27 June 2024 (DOU 28 June 2024), institutes the Programa Mobilidade Verde e Inovação (Programa Mover), Brazil's successor framework to Rota 2030 for the automotive ecosystem (passenger cars, trucks, buses, auto parts). The law converts Provisional Measure 1.205/2023 into permanent statute and authorises approximately R$19.3 billion (~USD 4.8 billion) in financial credits for R&D and decarbonisation projects through 2028, alongside an IPI (Industrialised Products Tax) bonus-malus regime tied to lifecycle CO2 emissions, recyclability and energy-efficiency thresholds. Vehicles meeting the strictest "Carro Sustentável" criteria (≤83 gCO2/km, ≥80% recyclability) qualify for zero-IPI treatment, while non-compliant vehicles face higher tax rates. The programme is regulated by Decreto 12.435/2025 (15 April 2025), with mandatory emissions-labelling and commercialisation requirements taking effect from 1 June 2025. The law also permits a 2% reduced import tariff rate for qualifying vehicles where the importer commits R&D spend equivalent to 2% of customs value.

On 27 June 2024 the Argentine Congress passed Law 27.742, the "Ley de Bases y Puntos de Partida para la Libertad de los Argentinos" ("Ley Bases"), the flagship economic reform of the Milei administration. The law was published in the Boletín Oficial on 8 July 2024 and Title VII established the Régimen de Incentivo para Grandes Inversiones (RIGI) — a promotional regime designed to attract large-scale capex into mining, energy, oil & gas, LNG, steel, forestry, tourism, infrastructure, and technology. Implementing Decree 749/2024 was issued on 23 August 2024 and the regime became fully operational with Resolution 1074/2024 on 22 October 2024. RIGI offers single-project vehicles ("VPUs") that commit at least USD 200M (with sector-specific thresholds rising to USD 600M and up to USD 2B for long-term "strategic export" projects) a 30-year regulatory, tax, customs and foreign-exchange stability guarantee. Headline benefits include a reduced 25% corporate income tax (vs. 35% standard), accelerated depreciation, full deductibility of inflation adjustments, an import-duty exemption on capital goods and inputs, a phased relaxation of central-bank obligations to repatriate and convert export proceeds (20% free after year one, 40% after year two, 100% after year three), and reduced dividend withholding tax. Disputes are subject to international arbitration under ICSID or UNCITRAL rules. As of mid-2025, RIGI's project pipeline reached USD 33.9B in submitted applications, of which roughly USD 15.7B (46.5%) had been approved across nine projects spanning steel (Sidersa), energy/LNG (PAE Southern Energy, YPF Argentina LNG), three mining projects, and infrastructure. The flagship approval was Rio Tinto's USD 2.5B Rincón battery-grade lithium carbonate plant in Salta (initial 53,000 t/yr, scaling to 60,000 t/yr by 2028) — the first mining project approved under the regime, on 21 May 2025. Strategically, RIGI is Argentina's bid to compete with Chile's lithium framework and Brazil's industrial policies for upstream-critical-minerals capex. Combined with the lifting of Argentina's FX controls (cepo cambiario) in April 2025 it sharply re-rates the country's project-economics math for multinationals — particularly in the Lithium Triangle, the Vaca Muerta shale, and pipeline/LNG infrastructure. Whether the 30-year stability guarantee survives a future change of government is the dominant political-risk overhang on the regime.

Presidential Decree (Cumhurbaşkanı Kararı) No. 8639, dated 7 June 2024 and published in the Resmi Gazete on 8 June 2024, amends Türkiye's Decision on the Application of Additional Customs Duty on Imports to impose a 40% additional ad valorem duty (or USD 7,000 per unit, whichever is higher) on China-origin passenger vehicles classified under HS heading 8703 — covering internal-combustion, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery-electric models. The measure entered into force 30 days after publication, on 7 July 2024, with an exemption for imports made under an Investment Incentive Certificate (Yatırım Teşvik Belgesi) — explicitly designed to channel Chinese OEMs into domestic Turkish assembly.

On 2 May 2024 Türkiye's Ministry of Trade announced that all export, import and transit transactions with Israel, covering all product groups, were halted, as the second phase after the 9 April 2024 restriction on 54 product groups. Customs declarations naming Israel as country of shipment, destination or origin are no longer registered. The ministry stated the halt stays in force until Israel declares a ceasefire in Gaza and allows uninterrupted humanitarian aid access.

On 21 March 2024, Costa Rica's Ministerio de Comercio Exterior (COMEX) launched the Hoja de Ruta para el Fortalecimiento del Ecosistema de Semiconductores — the first national semiconductor roadmap published by any Latin American country — jointly presented with US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo in the context of the CHIPS Act §103 ITSI Fund partnership. President Rodrigo Chaves Robles simultaneously signed an executive decree declaring the semiconductor industry and related industries of "interés público" (public interest) and directing COMEX to lead implementation. The roadmap is organised around four pillars: Talent (Human Talent Training Incentive programme, US$6M initial budget), Incentives (OECD BEPS Pillar Two-aligned fiscal/financial R&D incentives, Free Trade Zone regime strengthening under Law 7210), Investment Attraction (CINDE-led FDI promotion targeting ATP, advanced PCB, and design-house segments), and Regulatory Improvement (customs facilitation, IP reform, export-control alignment). Costa Rica is one of seven declared ITSI-fund partner economies and hosts Intel's largest non-US assembly and test site since 1997, alongside Applied Materials, ON Semiconductor, Coherent, MaxLinear, and Boston Scientific.