Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2665 actions· ✨ 90 recent

On 31 December 2025, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD) issued Decision No. 93483 raising the mandatory Saudization (localization) quota for engineering professions in the private and non-profit sectors from 25% to 30%, alongside a minimum-wage floor increase from SAR 7,000 to SAR 8,000 for qualifying Saudi hires. The decision covers 46 designated engineering professions (architect, power generation engineer, industrial engineer, electronics engineer, vehicle engineer, marine engineer, health engineer, and others) at establishments employing five or more workers in those roles, and requires professional accreditation from the Saudi Council of Engineers. Implementation began six months after issuance, on 30 June 2026, to give employers a compliance runway.

On 26 December 2025, Japan's Cabinet approved the FY2026 (Reiwa 8) initial budget, which allocates a new JPY 415 billion (~USD 2.7bn) line to the "Low-Carbon Hydrogen Hub Development Support Project" (低炭素水素 等拠点整備支援事業), administered by METI's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE) through JOGMEC under the Hydrogen Society Promotion Act framework enacted in 2024. The programme subsidises Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) and construction costs for shared transport and storage infrastructure -- tanks, pipelines and receiving-terminal equipment -- built jointly by multiple businesses to move low-carbon hydrogen and its derivatives (ammonia, e-methane, synthetic fuels) from import/production points to industrial users. It sits alongside, but is administratively distinct from, JOGMEC's separately-run "price-gap" (kakakusa) 15-year CfD offtake support for hydrogen suppliers. The budget takes effect with Japan's fiscal year on 1 April 2026, subject to ordinary Diet passage in early 2026.

The European Investment Bank signed the first EUR 231 million tranche (EUR 16m + EUR 50m + EUR 165m) of a EUR 271 million green loan to Italy's Sunprime Holdings Srl on 22 December 2025, under the EIB-approved "Project Sophocles" solar-and-battery programme (project reference 20250247, approved 27 August 2025). The financing backs a EUR 487 million multi-year investment programme deploying roughly 280 MWp of small-scale solar PV across multiple Italian sites plus 80 MW and 270 MW of four-hour battery energy storage. A further EUR 40 million tranche signed in February 2026, and the programme was subsequently expanded to a EUR 507 million EIB/Natixis CIB co-financing package announced in March 2026. Global Trade Alert logs the December tranche as a "red" state-loan intervention on grounds that below-market EIB financing is a trade- and competition-distorting subsidy to a domestic renewable-energy developer.

Brazil's Gecex/Camex approved Resolução Gecex Nº 826 on 4 December 2025 (published in the Diário Oficial da União 5 December 2025, in force 12 December 2025), amending the "Lista de Autopeças Não Produzidas" (Non-Produced Auto Parts List) created by Resolução Gecex Nº 284/2021. The resolution removes 17 products across 15 NCM lines from the exemption list — reverting those lines to Brazil's standard automotive-parts import duty on the premise that domestic production now covers them — while adding 24 products across 17 NCM lines to the preferential ~2% duty regime, with the additions carrying a sunset of 30 November 2027. This is the same rolling tariff-engineering instrument amended again three weeks later by Resolução Gecex Nº 842 (23 December 2025).

The UK Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) announced on 3 December 2025 a GBP 10 million grant toward the GBP 20 million "IGNITED" project, led by Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains (HPP), to develop an ultra-compact, high-power electric drive system for high-performance EVs drawing on Mercedes' Formula 1 power-unit engineering. UK partners YASA Ltd (axial-flux motor technology) and DePe Gear Company Ltd are involved, with work based in Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire. The project is expected to create over 150 new jobs and secure 34 existing roles, with production targeted within three years.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank provided a CAD 139.5 million (approx. USD 99.4 million) loan to BC Hydro, a provincial Crown utility, to fund the early-works phase of the North Coast Transmission Line (NCTL) in northwest British Columbia. Early works cover project planning, engineering, fieldwork, procurement, First Nations consultation and stakeholder engagement ahead of construction. The financing responds to anticipated electricity demand growth from port operations, mining (including critical-minerals projects), hydrogen production, LNG and technology sectors that is expected to exceed the capacity of the region's existing single 500-kV transmission line from Prince George to Terrace.

NHAI's Project Implementation Unit (PIU) Kolhapur issued a Request for Proposal (ref. MHDIV-20016/156/2025-PIU Kolhapur/294563) for a road-construction contract in Maharashtra state, valued by Global Trade Alert at INR 749.33 crore (~USD 90m). The tender embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction, and engineering-services categories. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented 3 November 2025.

Brazil's national development bank BNDES signed BRL 2.3 billion (~USD 425 million) in credit-line financing with Volkswagen do Brasil on 31 October 2025 at a ceremony at the Anchieta plant (São Bernardo do Campo, SP). The package draws on two BNDES lines: BNDES Mais Inovação, financing development of Volkswagen's hybrid (mild-hybrid, full-hybrid, plug-in-hybrid) vehicle portfolio and ADAS/connectivity engineering projects; and Exim Pré-Embarque, a pre-shipment export-finance line to expand Volkswagen's exports. Volkswagen is Brazil's largest automotive exporter (4.4 million units shipped since 1970 across 147 markets), with exports up 43% year-on-year in Jan-Sep 2025.

NHAI's Madhya Pradesh Division issued a Request for Proposal (ref. MPDIV-21/26/2025-MP Division) for a road-construction contract in Madhya Pradesh state, valued by Global Trade Alert at INR 1,023.14 crore (~USD 123m). The tender embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction, and supporting-services categories. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented 8 October 2025.

NHAI's Madhya Pradesh Division issued a Request for Proposal (ref. MPDIV-21/25/2025-MP Division) for a road-construction contract in Madhya Pradesh state, valued by Global Trade Alert at INR 952.42 crore (~USD 114m). The tender embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction, and supporting-services categories. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented 8 October 2025.

NHAI's Madhya Pradesh Division issued a Request for Proposal (ref. MPDIV-21015/17/2025-MP Division) for a road-construction contract in Madhya Pradesh state, valued by Global Trade Alert at INR 706.04 crore (~USD 85m). The tender embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction, and supporting-services categories. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented 8 October 2025.

The California Energy Commission approved a USD 25 million grant to SE US Development LLC (SB Energy) under the state's Distributed Electricity Backup Assets (DEBA) program, adopted via resolution at the Commission's October 8, 2025 business meeting (Agreement DBA-25-002). The grant partially funds a 75MW/300MWh slice of a planned 400MW/1,600MWh lithium-ion battery energy storage system (BESS) that SB Energy is retrofitting to its existing 450MWac Athos Solar I + II complex in Riverside County. SB Energy is separately funding roughly USD 10.5 million of the BESS installation cost, with the CEC grant covering the bulk of battery procurement plus a smaller allocation to engineering and construction management; funds must be spent by June 30, 2030 to be reimbursed.

East Central Railway (a zonal railway under India's Ministry of Railways) issued a Notice Inviting Tender on 4 October 2025 for a civil-engineering works package valued at approximately INR 2,998.93 crore. As with the parallel NHAI/NHIDCL/UPMRC tender filings on this register, the NIT embeds a domestic-supplier local-content requirement and bid-evaluation purchase-preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving Class-I local suppliers an advantage in the civil-engineering, general-construction, and site-preparation-services categories. Global Trade Alert logs this as a public-procurement preference-margin intervention.

NHAI issued a Request for Proposal (ref. NHAI/Tech/TS/2024/239275) for a road-construction contract in Telangana state, valued by Global Trade Alert at INR 1,348.09 crore (~USD 162.4m). The tender embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction, and engineering-services categories. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented 1 October 2025.

NHAI issued a Request for Proposal for a road-construction contract in Telangana state, valued by Global Trade Alert at INR 1,979.11 crore (~USD 238m). The tender embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction, and supporting-services categories. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented 1 October 2025.

Pakistan's Federal Board of Revenue notified SRO 1898(I)/2025 on 1 October 2025, imposing a 40% regulatory duty (RD) on the commercial import of used vehicles under PCT headings 8702, 8703, 8704 and 8711, limited to vehicles less than five years old. The measure operationalises a Ministry of Commerce scheme (SRO 1895(I)/2025, 30 September 2025) that for the first time authorises a commercial (dealer-run) import channel for used vehicles, which had previously been restricted to the non-commercial personal-baggage/gift/transfer-of-residence schemes. The Economic Coordination Committee approved the scheme on 18 September 2025 and it was ratified by the federal cabinet; imports also remain subject to Engineering Development Board environmental, safety and quality certification. The Tariff Policy Board's published trajectory reduces the RD by 10 percentage points per year after 30 June 2026, reaching 0% by FY2029-30.

India's Ministry of Road Transport and Highways issued a Request for Proposal (ref. CE-RO/LKO/NH(O)/11/NH-328/Civil Work/2022-23) for a road-construction contract on National Highway 328 in Uttar Pradesh state, valued by Global Trade Alert at INR 351.25 crore (~USD 39.5m). The tender embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction, and engineering-services categories. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented 29 September 2025.

China's Ministry of Commerce issued Announcement No. 51 of 2025 on 25 September 2025, adding three US entities — Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (NYSE: HII, the largest US military shipbuilder), Planate Management Group, and Global Dimensions LLC — to China's Export Control List (出口管制 管控名单), effective the same day. The listing prohibits Chinese exporters from supplying dual-use items to the three firms and requires any ongoing related export activity to cease immediately. MOFCOM cited the firms' "military-technical cooperation with China's Taiwan region" as the trigger, issued in parallel with a same-day Unreliable Entity List designation of three other US firms (Saronic Technologies, Aerkomm, Oceaneering International).

China's MOFCOM Unreliable Entity List Working Mechanism designated three US firms — Saronic Technologies, Aerkomm Inc., and Oceaneering International — on 25 September 2025, effective the same day, under Article 2 of the Provisions on the Unreliable Entity List (MOFCOM Order No. 4 of 2020) and citing the Foreign Trade Law, the National Security Law, and the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law. MOFCOM's stated trigger is the firms' "so-called military-technical collaboration with China's Taiwan region." Measures bar the designees from China-related import/export activity and new investment in mainland China, with entry/work-permit restrictions on relevant management personnel.

India's Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) issued a Request for Proposal (tender ref. NH-309A/AP/UK/2022-23/627) for a National Highway road-construction contract in Uttarakhand state, valued by Global Trade Alert at INR 316.70 crore (~USD 38m). The tender embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction, and engineering-services categories. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented 23 September 2025.

NHAI issued a Request for Proposal (ref. NHAI/2025/Guj/PIU-EktaNagar/Bodeli-Vapi/Pkg-VI) for a road-construction package on the Bodeli-Vapi route in Gujarat state, valued by Global Trade Alert at INR 1,382.41 crore (~USD 166.6m). The tender embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction, and support-services categories. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented 18 September 2025.

NHAI issued a Request for Proposal (ref. NHAI/2025/Guj/PIU-EktaNagar/Bodeli-Vapi/Pkg-IV) for a road-construction package on the Bodeli-Vapi route in Gujarat state, valued by Global Trade Alert at INR 1,440.28 crore (~USD 173.6m). The tender embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction, and support-services categories. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented 18 September 2025.

On 8 September 2025, the UK Ministry of Defence published the Defence Industrial Strategy 2025 — "Making Defence an Engine for Growth" (CP 1388) — the first comprehensive cabinet-level UK defence industrial strategy in over a decade and the sector plan for Defence under the UK Modern Industrial Strategy umbrella (IS-8). The strategy was published alongside the Strategic Defence Review 2025 and operationalises the largest sustained defence- spending increase since the Cold War (rising to 2.6% of GDP by 2027 with ambition to 3% in the next Parliament). It defines six priority outcomes (growth, backing UK businesses, defence innovation, resilient industrial base, procurement transformation, enduring partnerships); establishes UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) within the MOD with a ringfenced £400m budget to accelerate dual-use technology; identifies priority defence capabilities (combat air, complex weapons, directed-energy weapons, next- generation land and maritime systems) plus dual-use sub-sectors (quantum, drones/autonomy, space, AI, cyber, engineering biology, advanced connectivity); and flags resilience priorities in steel, construction, energetic materials, batteries, semiconductors and rare earths.

A road-construction tender in Maharashtra state, valued by Global Trade Alert at INR 2,575.08 crore (~USD 310m), embeds a domestic-supplier bid-evaluation preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017. The preference applies across civil-engineering, general-construction, and engineering-services categories. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented 3 September 2025.

Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) issued a public procurement tender for construction work in Bangalore on 2 September 2025 that embeds a domestic-supplier local-content requirement under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017. The preference applies to bid evaluation in the general-construction and civil-engineering categories. Global Trade Alert records the intervention as announced and implemented the same day; the specific NIT reference and contract value sit behind GTA's account-gated view and were not independently located on BMRCL's e-tender portal.

India's Ministry of Road Transport and Highways issued a Request for Proposal on 2 September 2025 for an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) road contract in the state of Bihar. The tender embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction, and engineering-services categories. Global Trade Alert records the intervention as announced/implemented 2 September 2025; contract value and tender reference number are not disclosed in publicly accessible sources.

India's Ministry of Road Transport & Highways issued a Request for Proposal for a road-construction contract in Karnataka state that embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction, and engineering-services categories. Global Trade Alert records the intervention as announced/implemented 1 September 2025; the underlying tender reference, route, and contract value sit behind GTA's account-gated view and were not independently confirmed.

Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation Ltd (MRVC) issued a public procurement tender on 29 August 2025 for carshed-expansion works at Kurla and Kalwa that embeds a domestic-supplier local-content requirement under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017. The preference applies to bid evaluation in the general-construction and civil-engineering categories. Global Trade Alert records the intervention as announced and implemented the same day; the specific NIT reference and contract value sit behind GTA's account-gated view and were not independently located on MRVC's e-tender portal.

RITES Ltd, a Government of India public-sector engineering consultancy, floated an EPC tender on behalf of Oil India Limited (OIL) for construction of a workman housing complex at OIL's Duliajan site in Assam (tender ID 2025_RITES_246752_1; ~29,400 sqm, 192 units; estimated value approx. INR 160 crore / USD 19.3 million). The tender embeds a local-content bidder-preference requirement consistent with India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers in the general-construction category. Global Trade Alert records the intervention as announced/implemented 28 August 2025.

India's Ministry of Railways, through Northeast Frontier Railway's construction organisation, issued a tender for tunnel construction and associated electrical/mechanical works in Manipur (part of the broader NFR hill-section rail-line project, which includes 14 tunnels totalling roughly 24 km) that embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction and site-preparation categories. Global Trade Alert records the intervention as announced/implemented 27 August 2025; the underlying tender reference and contract value sit behind GTA's account-gated view and were not independently confirmed.

India's Ministry of Railways issued a tender for construction of railway infrastructure between Borivali and Virar stations (part of the Mumbai Suburban Railway 5th/6th line quadrupling project) that embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, restricting or giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering and general-construction categories. Global Trade Alert records the intervention as announced/implemented 27 August 2025; the underlying tender reference and contract value sit behind GTA's account-gated view and were not independently confirmed.

India's Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) issued a tender valued by Global Trade Alert at INR 358.23 crore (~USD 43m) for upgrading approximately 107 km of National Highway 754K in Gujarat. The tender embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers (minimum 50% local content) across civil-engineering, general-construction, and engineering-services categories. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented 22 August 2025.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) issued a public procurement tender (ID 2025_AAI_245611_1, value INR 572.36 crore) on 21 August 2025 for construction of a new domestic terminal building at Varanasi's Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport, embedding a domestic-supplier local-content minimum and preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017. Global Trade Alert records the intervention as announced and implemented the same day; the exact preference-margin percentage applied to this tender sits behind GTA's account-gated detail view and was not independently located on AAI's e-tender portal.

India's Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) issued a road-construction tender (ref. 2025_MoRTH_874028_1) for a project in Uttarakhand state on 21 August 2025, embedding a bid-evaluation preference for suppliers with higher local content under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017. Global Trade Alert records the intervention as announced and implemented the same day; the contract value and exact preference-margin percentage sit behind GTA's account-gated detail view and were not independently located on MoRTH's e-tender portal.

India's Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), a central public-sector power utility under the Ministry of Power, issued Tender Document No. DVC/Tender/Head Quarter/SPE/CMM/Works and Service/00077/Capital on 20 August 2025 for the survey, design, supply, and replacement of existing conductors with high-temperature low-sag (HTLS) conductors on its 132kV D/C transmission lines. The tender restricts eligibility to 'Class-I local suppliers' under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving domestic manufacturers a bid-evaluation advantage in the electrical-equipment/civil-engineering procurement category. Global Trade Alert records the intervention as announced/implemented 20 August 2025; the underlying contract value and full tender scope sit behind GTA's account-gated view and were not independently confirmed via trade press.

DVC, a central-government-owned power utility, issued a tender for a 132kV solar pooling station and 132kV double-circuit LILO transmission line at Konar, Jharkhand, to evacuate power from a 228 MW floating-solar project and a 100 MW/400 MWh battery storage system. The tender is valued at INR 113,169,393.72 (~USD 13.6m, requiring an EMD of INR 1,131,693.90) and embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving Class-I local suppliers a bid-evaluation advantage in civil-engineering and engineering-services categories. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented 20 August 2025.

The US Department of Commerce initiated a countervailing-duty (CVD) investigation of certain freight rail couplers and parts thereof from India (case C-533-941) on 18 August 2025, covering the period of investigation 1 April 2024 - 31 March 2025. On 27 February 2026 Commerce issued a preliminary affirmative determination, published in the Federal Register 3 March 2026, finding countervailable subsidy rates of 6.02% for Kharagpur Metal Reforming Industries, 5.47% for Texmaco Rail & Engineering, and 5.90% for all other Indian producers/exporters; Jupiter Wagons and Bhilai Engineering Corporation were assigned a 64.27% adverse-facts-available rate after failing to respond to Commerce's quantity-and-value questionnaire. Commerce aligned the CVD final determination with the companion antidumping final determination. 2024 US imports of the subject product totaled roughly $5.6 million (2.07 million kg).

NHAI issued a Request for Proposal (ref. NHAI/Tech/MH/N-P-K/2025/Combined-Bid) for a road-construction contract in Maharashtra state, valued by Global Trade Alert at INR 7,343.33 crore (~USD 880m). The tender embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction, and engineering-services categories. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented 7 August 2025.

NHAI issued a Request for Proposal (ref. NHAI/Tech/MH/N-P-K/2025/Pkg-II) for a road-construction contract in Maharashtra state, valued by Global Trade Alert at INR 3,177.66 crore (~USD 380m). The tender embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction, and engineering-services categories. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented 7 August 2025.

NHAI issued a Request for Proposal for a road-construction contract in Maharashtra state, part of the same N-P-K tender batch as the Pkg-1, Pkg-II, and Combined-Bid filings, valued by Global Trade Alert at INR 3,653.09 crore (~USD 440m). The tender embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction, and engineering-services categories. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented 7 August 2025.

NHAI issued a Request for Proposal (ref. NHAI/Tech/MH/N-P-K/2025/Pkg-1) for a road-construction contract in Maharashtra state, valued by Global Trade Alert at INR 4,256.67 crore (~USD 510m). The tender embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction, and engineering-services categories. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented 7 August 2025.

The US Department of Defense announced a USD 10 million Defense Production Act (DPA) Title III award to Elk Creek Resources Corp (ECRC), a subsidiary of NioCorp Developments Ltd, to advance a domestic "mine-to-master-alloy" scandium supply chain at the Elk Creek Critical Minerals Project in Nebraska. The funds support feasibility-level engineering, additional reserve drilling and updated cost estimates for the polymetallic deposit (scandium, niobium, titanium and rare earths), and support integration of aluminum-scandium master alloy into aerospace platforms alongside a defense prime contractor. The award notes the US has not mined scandium since 1969 and that current global scandium supply is overwhelmingly foreign-sourced, with China the dominant producer.

The Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Armenia, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan, approved the 2025-2030 Strategic Plan for Promoting Exports of the Republic of Armenia and its accompanying Action Plan on 31 July 2025. The Strategy targets a 1.7-fold increase in total Armenian exports to USD 16.9 billion by 2030 (USD 10.3 billion services + USD 6.6 billion goods), with an implementation envelope of approximately AMD 98 billion (~USD 250 million). It designates critical minerals (copper-molybdenum concentrates, gold, antimony, emerging rare-earth-element zones), IT and tech services, agri-processing, and green-transition equipment as priority export categories, and operationalises Armenia's ongoing reorientation of export geography away from Russia/EAEU toward EU, US, Gulf, and Asian markets.

NICDIT Zaheerabad Industrial Smart City Limited (NICZISCL) — the special-purpose vehicle developing the Zaheerabad Industrial Smart City node of the Hyderabad-Nagpur Industrial Corridor in Telangana — published a tender for infrastructure works valued by Global Trade Alert at INR 1,206 crore (~USD 145m). The tender embeds a domestic-supplier bid-evaluation preference under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, across civil-engineering, general-construction, and water-distribution categories. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented 28 July 2025.

The Bihar State Road Development Corporation issued a Request for Proposal on 25 July 2025 for a road-construction project in Bihar. The tender embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction, and engineering-services categories. Global Trade Alert records the intervention as announced/implemented 25 July 2025; contract value and tender reference number are not disclosed in publicly accessible sources.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) committed AUD 44.9 million to Calix Limited to build a demonstration plant for its Zero Emissions Steel Technology (ZESTY), targeting up to 30,000 tonnes per year of low-carbon hydrogen direct reduced iron (HDRI) and hot briquetted iron (HBI) using renewable electricity and hydrogen instead of coking coal. The funding builds on prior ARENA-funded engineering studies and also supports early-stage engineering for a larger commercial-scale ZESTY plant, positioning low-emissions iron/steel as a strategic priority industry for Australia.

India and the UK signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) on 24 July 2025 in Chequers, with Prime Ministers Modi and Starmer presiding. The agreement grants duty-free access on 99% of Indian exports to the UK (textiles, apparel, footwear, auto components, engineering goods and chemicals), and reduces Indian tariffs on UK goods covering ~90% of tariff lines: Scotch whisky duties drop from 150% to 75% on day one and taper to 40% over ten years; high-end UK car tariffs fall from ~110% to 10% under a quota; UK MFN access on a wide industrial-goods envelope. A Double Contribution Convention exempts Indian secondees from UK National Insurance for three years. Bilateral trade currently ~£42 bn / USD 56 bn per year, with the parties targeting doubling by 2030. UK ratification under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (CRaG) ran from January 2026, with the 21-sitting-day scrutiny period concluding 5 March 2026. Entry into force was delayed from the originally targeted May 2026 date and is now confirmed for July 15, 2026 following a UK Prime Minister announcement at the G7 Évian summit sidelines on June 17, 2026. The confirmed EIF covers 64% of UK exports (£1.9bn) duty-free immediately, with an additional £25.5bn/year in projected additional bilateral trade.

The National Highways Authority of India's Bihar Division issued a Request for Proposal (reference BRDIV-20021/11/2025-Bihar Division) on 23 July 2025 for a road-construction project in Bihar valued at INR 1,981.72 crore (approx. USD 237 million). The tender embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction, and engineering-services categories. Global Trade Alert records the intervention as announced/implemented 23 July 2025; the specific road/route name is not disclosed in publicly accessible sources.

The National Highways Authority of India's Bihar Division issued a Request for Proposal (reference PROJ/34/2025-Bihar Division) on 22 July 2025 for a road-construction project in Bihar valued at INR 2,243.16 crore (approx. USD 269 million). The tender embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction, and engineering-services categories. Global Trade Alert records the intervention as announced/implemented 22 July 2025; the specific road/route name is not disclosed in publicly accessible sources.

NHAI issued a Request for Proposal (ref. MPDIV-21017/37/2025-MP Division) for a road-construction contract in Madhya Pradesh state, valued by Global Trade Alert at INR 1,237.07 crore (~USD 149m). The tender embeds a domestic-supplier preference margin under India's Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, giving a bid-evaluation advantage to Class-I local suppliers across civil-engineering, general-construction, and supporting-services categories. GTA records the intervention as announced/implemented 22 July 2025.