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

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.

Zimbabwe's Ministry of Mines and Mining Development gazetted a formal Mineral Classification and Declaration on 22 May 2026, signed by Minister Dr Polite Kambamura, classifying 14 minerals as "critical" (nickel, cobalt, graphite, copper, REE, chrome, PGMs, manganese, antimony, uranium, ruthenium, tungsten, niobium — plus metallurgical coal as "special critical") and 10 as "strategic" (limestone, potash, phosphorus, iron ore, pyrites, oil, gas, coal, gold, diamonds). The declaration mandates minimum state shareholding through designated Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) in all critical-mineral exploitation operations and prohibits export of listed minerals in raw or unbeneficiated form without a ministerially-approved conditional transitional plan specifying a local beneficiation timeline.

On March 29, 2026, the DRC Conseil des Ministres approved a draft decree modifying and supplementing Decree n°11/28 of June 7, 2021, which establishes the statute of the Centre d'Expertise, d'Evaluation et de Certification (CEEC). The reform formally enshrines CEEC as a "certification authority" recognized in law — a role previously exercised in practice but lacking explicit statutory grounding. CEEC gains explicit authority to determine the physicochemical characteristics of all mineral substances produced on DRC territory, covering the nature, chemical composition, geographic origin, and legal provenance of exports across all strategic minerals including cobalt, copper, coltan, cassiterite, gold, and tantalum.

On 19 March 2026 the Parliament of Ghana ratified the Mining Lease for the Ewoyaa Lithium Project (Mfantseman Municipality, Central Region), held by Barari DV Ghana Ltd (subsidiary of AIM/ASX-listed Atlantic Lithium). The lease was originally granted by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources in October 2023 but had stalled in Parliament for nearly three years. Ratification clears Atlantic Lithium to pursue final investment decision and project funding, and makes Ghana the first West African country to formally enter commercial lithium production. Headline fiscal terms: 15-year initial lease, sliding spodumene royalty (5% < USD 1,500/t up to 12% > USD 3,200/t), 13% Government free-carried interest plus a 6% paid interest held by the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) — combined state interest of 19% — replacing Ghana's prior 5% royalty / 10% state interest standard for mining leases.

The European Commission on 4 March 2026 adopted COM(2026) 100 final, the proposed Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA), the central horizontal industrial- policy instrument of the 2024-29 Commission term. The proposal targets raising EU manufacturing's share of GDP from 14.3% (2024) to at least 20% by 2035 via three pillars: (i) demand-side "Made in EU" and low-carbon public-procurement preferences for strategic sectors; (ii) FDI conditionality on investments above €100 million from countries with >40% global manufacturing share in batteries, EVs, solar PV or critical raw materials; (iii) accelerated permitting through a one-stop-shop and member-state-designated Industrial Acceleration Areas. The IAA is a proposal — co-decision adoption is expected mid-to-late 2027.

Prime Minister Dr Mostafa Madbouly issued Decree No. 503 of 2026 on 25 February 2026, expanding the catalogue of industrial activities eligible for investment incentives under Egypt's Investment Law No. 72/2017 and linking them to Sector A / Sector B geographic classifications. Sector A projects (underserved areas, Upper Egypt, the New Administrative Capital, and economic zones) receive a 50% deduction of investment costs from net taxable profits over seven years, capped at 80% of paid-in capital; Sector B projects (remaining regions) receive a 30% deduction on the same terms. Newly designated priority activities include all automobile and vehicle categories (conventional and electric), electric motors and engines, refrigerator evaporators and compressors, sheet metal for electrical/electronic appliances, pipes and tubes, fruit/vegetable concentrates, and concentrated sulfuric acid. The decree consolidates and supersedes prior incentive decisions issued since 2022, deepening import-substitution and local-content pressure across automotive, electronics, and chemicals supply chains feeding Suez Canal Economic Zone investors and feeder-industry suppliers.

On 25 February 2026 Zimbabwe's Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, under Minister Polite Kambamura, announced an immediate and indefinite suspension of exports of all unprocessed minerals — including lithium-bearing spodumene concentrates, which had previously been exempt from the country's December 2022 ban on raw lithium ore (Statutory Instrument 213 of 2022). The directive was communicated by ministerial letter dated 17 February 2026 to the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe and copied to lithium producers; the suspension took effect on 25 February and explicitly covered consignments already in transit, with the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) and the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) ordered to halt clearance at the border. The measure brings forward by roughly eleven months a lithium-concentrate export ban that had been telegraphed for January 2027, and broadens it to all raw mineral exports. The Minister cited "national interest", in-country beneficiation, transparency, and prevention of mineral export "leakages" (smuggling and under-invoicing) as the rationale. Bloomberg and Reuters reporting noted under-declaration of grade and value as a proximate trigger; the government later (April 2026) clarified that reinstated exports would require Quota Verification certificates, monthly reporting, on-site assay laboratories, and individual producer-level export ceilings — i.e. the suspension functions as a reset to a quota regime rather than a permanent embargo. Zimbabwe is the world's fifth-largest lithium producer (~6-7% of global supply on a contained-LCE basis) and exported 1.128 million tonnes of spodumene concentrate in 2025 (an 11% YoY increase). The producer base is overwhelmingly Chinese-owned: Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt (Arcadia / Prospect), Sinomine Resource Group (Bikita Minerals), Chengxin Lithium (Sabi Star), and Sichuan Yahua (Kamativi) together account for the majority of output. The ban therefore primarily disrupts Chinese midstream lithium converters in Sichuan and Jiangxi that depend on Zimbabwean spodumene feedstock, while incrementally tightening the global seaborne concentrate market. The action is structurally a continuation of the EM resource-nationalism / upstream-capture template pioneered by Indonesia's nickel-ore ban (2020) and most recently extended by the DRC's ARECOMS cobalt suspension and quota system (Feb-Oct 2025). It reinforces a pattern in which producing-country governments capture processing margin from consuming-country smelters, and it does so in a commodity (lithium) where ex-China refining capacity is still thin, magnifying near-term price impact even though the headline share of global supply removed is moderate.

CEER, Saudi Arabia's PIF-backed electric-vehicle manufacturer, signed 16 commercial localisation agreements worth over SAR 3.7 billion (~USD 986 million) with domestic and international suppliers at the fourth PIF Private Sector Forum in Riyadh on 9 February 2026. The agreements cover components including EV coolants, brake fluids, aerodynamic covers, front-end modules, polymer compounds, automotive glazing, HVAC systems and body-shop equipment, and build on SAR 5.5 billion in agreements signed at the same forum in 2025. CEER states the localisation drive targets sourcing 45% of vehicle materials and components from Saudi companies by 2034.

On 1 February 2026 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled India's Union Budget 2026-27, with Customs Notification No. 02/2026-Customs (dated 1 Feb 2026, effective 2 Feb 2026) implementing the customs-duty package. The notification zero-rates basic customs duty (BCD) on (i) capital goods imported for domestic processing of critical minerals — crushing, beneficiation, refining, chemical-processing, separation/purification, and metallurgical/alloy-making equipment; (ii) capital goods for lithium-ion cell manufacturing for battery energy storage systems (BESS), extending the 2024-25 EV-cell exemption to stationary storage; and (iii) twelve additional critical minerals plus cobalt powder and lithium-ion battery scrap, on top of the 25 critical minerals already exempted in the FY2024-25 budget. In parallel, critical minerals (including monazite / rare-earth concentrate) are migrated from the customs-exemption notification mechanism into the First Schedule of the Customs Tariff Act at Nil BCD, effective 1 May 2026 — a tariffisation step that locks the rate into primary legislation rather than annually renewable notification. The Budget also commits to dedicated critical-mineral / rare-earth-magnet processing corridors in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Structurally this is the fiscal/tariff layer underneath the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM, Jan 2025) and the National Manufacturing Mission (Feb 2025): NCMM funds capex and overseas asset acquisition (₹34,300 cr), this Budget removes the import-duty drag on the equipment needed to actually run domestic processing lines. It complements the REPM scheme (Nov 2025) for sintered rare-earth magnets and Semicon Mission 2.0 (Feb 2026) on the demand side for refined critical minerals.

India's Ministry of Mines on 19 January 2026 notified the country's first national Tailings Policy, establishing a standardised framework for the systematic exploration, sampling and economic evaluation of critical and strategic minerals from secondary sources — tailings, mine dumps, slag, anode slimes, red mud and fly ash — at existing mines. The policy designates the Geological Survey of India (GSI), Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) and Atomic Minerals Directorate (AMD) as the implementing agencies, and mandates inter-ministry coordination across the Ministries of Coal, Mines, Petroleum and Atomic Energy because critical-mineral host materials cut across sectoral jurisdictions. It supplements the National Critical Mineral Mission (2025-01-29) by adding a secondary-source recovery track aimed at lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare earth elements found as companion minerals in legacy mining waste, with the explicit objective of reducing import dependency.