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

The National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC), Australia's AUD 15 billion sovereign industrial-financing vehicle, took a AUD 30.7 million (USD 21.5 million) equity stake in Applied Electric Vehicles (AEV), a Melbourne-based autonomous electric vehicle manufacturer, announced 28 January 2026. The investment is NRFC's first under its Transport priority area and forms more than half of AEV's USD 40 million (~AUD 58 million) Series B round, alongside Barrenjoey, Japan Post Capital, and existing backers Suzuki Motor Corporation and St Baker. Funds will manufacture, commercialise, and scale AEV's "Blanc Robot" autonomous electric vehicle fleet for mining dust-suppression and inter-factory logistics, supporting AEV's existing 113-person workforce and funding up to 25 new skilled roles in Melbourne.

On 2026-01-26 the US Department of Commerce initiated antidumping (LTFV) and countervailing duty investigations covering van-type trailers and subassemblies thereof from Canada, China, and Mexico, following a petition filed 2025-11-20 by the American Trailer Manufacturers Coalition (Great Dane, Stoughton Trailers, Wabash National). On 2026-06-15 Commerce issued its preliminary affirmative LTFV determination for China, setting a preliminary antidumping duty rate of 130.76% on Chinese van-type trailer imports, effective on publication and triggering CBP duty collection at the border. Companion countervailing-duty and Canada/Mexico proceedings are tracked separately.

On 2026-01-26 the US Department of Commerce initiated countervailing duty (anti-subsidy) investigations covering van-type trailers and subassemblies thereof from Canada, China, and Mexico, companion to the antidumping investigation covering the same product and countries. On 2026-06-05 Commerce published preliminary affirmative CVD determinations: China received an 82.37% subsidy rate for CIMC Baowell Industries/Qingdao CIMC Reefer Trailer and all other exporters, and a 128.78% adverse-inference rate for non-responsive companies; Mexico received rates of 1.90-1.95% for cooperating respondents (Hyundai de Mexico, Utility Trailer Manufacturing de México) and a 62.67% adverse-inference rate for five non-responsive companies. The Canada CVD investigation was terminated on 2026-05-27 after the petitioner withdrew that portion of the petition. Cash deposits at the preliminary rates began on Federal Register publication; final CVD determinations are scheduled for 2026-08-24 (China) and 2026-10-13 (Mexico).

Brazil's national development bank BNDES approved a BRL 500 million (~USD 92 million) credit limit for Toyota do Brasil Ltda. on 5 January 2026 to support acquisition of high-value-added Industry 4.0 machinery, equipment and technological services for new hybrid flex-fuel vehicle projects at its Sorocaba (SP) operations. The financing is drawn under the BNDES Mais Inovação programme, which conditions support on expanding the bank's registered supplier base for nationally-sourced ("conteúdo nacional") innovative equipment, and will also help fund the recovery of Toyota's Porto Feliz (SP) plant, which was damaged by severe storms in September 2025.

Australia's government-owned Clean Energy Finance Corporation announced on 9 December 2025 an AUD 70 million (approx. USD 46 million) financing package with Volvo Financial Services and Volvo Group Australia to accelerate electrification of Australia's trucking fleet. The package funds an interest-rate discount of up to 0.5 percentage points for eligible customers leasing medium- and heavy-duty battery-electric trucks (HD BEVs) and installing EV charging infrastructure, plus a residual-value support mechanism to reduce operating-lease costs and protect future HD BEV resale values. Volvo Group Australia has committed to manufacture electric trucks at its Wacol, Queensland facility (in production since 1972, 80,000+ trucks built) from 2026. Global Trade Alert separately logs the transaction as a "red"-flagged local-value-added and lending-support intervention (state act 95651).

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.

On 29 October 2025 the Swiss Federal Council amended the Ordinance on Measures in Connection with the Situation in Ukraine (SR 946.231.176.72), published as AS 2025 662, completing Switzerland's alignment with the remaining goods, finance and services elements of the EU's 18th Russia sanctions package (Council Regulation (EU) 2025/1494, 18 July 2025) and tightening the parallel Belarus regime. The amendment took effect 30 October 2025 and adds: an export ban covering additional structural-metal, general-purpose-machinery and machine-tool goods; an import ban on further petroleum-oil products and waste/scrap categories; and expanded controls on commercial transactions and investment instruments spanning financial services, investment banking, crude-petroleum trade and motor-vehicle/trailer goods. The Federal Department of Economic Affairs (WBF) had already taken over the measures within its own competence on 12 August 2025; this decision closes the remainder. In parallel, the Federal Council's asset-freeze annexes were extended to 14 individuals and 41 companies/organizations.

Russian Government Resolution No. 1545 of 6 October 2025 amends Resolution No. 851 (11 May 2022) to add Renault SAS to Russia's list of foreign legal entities subject to "special economic measures" tied to military-technical cooperation. Renault is listed as entry No. 75 and becomes subject to prohibitions on commercial transactions and on the use of investment instruments (securities/equity dealings) involving the company. The designation follows reporting that Renault planned to help manufacture unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) for Ukraine; a related GTA-tracked intervention imposes an export ban on the same entity under the same resolution.

Qatar's Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) issued Circular No. (3) of 2025, barring car dealerships, showrooms and other commercial exporters from re-exporting new vehicles that have not completed at least one year of domestic registration. The measure targets re-export arbitrage by dealers that was reducing new-car availability and pushing up prices in the local market; authorised dealers and vehicles bought for personal use are exempt. MoCI subsequently adopted, in coordination with the General Authority of Customs (GAC), an executive mechanism clarifying that vehicles imported from a country other than the manufacturing country (and therefore outside Qatar's manufacturer-allocation quota) may still be re-exported.

NIB, the multilateral development bank owned by the eight Nordic and Baltic member states, signed an 8-year EUR 150 million loan with Volvo Car AB to finance research and development on Volvo's next-generation scalable EV platform (SPA3) and the new EX60 model, covering the 2024-2026 investment period. NIB below-market development-bank financing functions as a state-adjacent subsidy to a domestic automaker's EV transition, framed by NIB as support for Sweden's decarbonisation and regional innovation-capacity goals.

Russian Government Resolution No. 969 of 27 June 2025 amends Resolution No. 851 (11 May 2022) to add Daimler Truck AG to Russia's list of foreign legal entities subject to "special economic measures," entering as list item No. 33. The designation imposes an export ban plus a prohibition on commercial transactions and dealings in investment instruments (securities/equity) involving the company. Daimler Truck fully exited its residual stake in Russian truckmaker KamAZ (its last ~15% holding) in early 2024, so the listing is a symbolic/optionality-blocking measure rather than one disrupting a live trade flow.

Malaysia's Ministry of Finance gazetted the Customs (Prohibition of Imports) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2025, amending the Customs (Prohibition of Imports) Order 2023 (P.U. (A) 117/2023) issued under subsection 31(1) of the Customs Act 1967. The order imposes an absolute prohibition, effective 31 December 2025, on importing dummy buckles, seat-belt alarm stoppers, seat-belt clip extenders, or any other accessory or device designed to be inserted into a seat-belt buckle to disable or bypass the seat-belt safety reminder and render the mechanism inoperative. The ban applies to all countries of origin without exception; Global Trade Alert lists Belgium, China and Czechia as principally affected exporters of the trade-catalogue category covering these parts.

Brazil's public innovation-financing agency FINEP approved R$164.1 million (~USD 29 million) in reimbursable financing on 9 June 2025 for Volare Veículos, the bus-manufacturing unit of the Marcopolo group, to develop a new continuous-line production process for a 100% domestically-engineered electric bus (own body and chassis). The FINEP tranche, drawn from the FNDCT federal science-and-technology fund, covers 70% of the R$234.5 million total project scope, with Marcopolo supplying the remaining R$70.3 million as counterpart funding. Approved under the "FINEP Mais Inovação" program with a two-year validity, the project will be executed at Marcopolo's São Mateus (Espírito Santo) plant and is expected to create ~500 jobs.

On 28 July 2023 Japan's government decided a further amendment to the Export Trade Control Order under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act, adding goods that contribute to strengthening Russia's industrial base to the existing export prohibition list. The additional goods include passenger vehicles over 1,900cc displacement (gasoline, diesel, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric), stainless-steel drill pipes used in oil and gas drilling, yachts and recreational/sporting vessels, and construction-mineral products (monumental/building stone, gypsum, anhydrite, clays). The measure was gazetted 2 August 2023 and took effect 9 August 2023, aligning Japan's export-control list with equivalent measures other G7 members had already adopted.

The Council of the EU adopted Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/878 of 3 June 2022, implementing Regulation (EU) No 269/2014 concerning restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. The regulation adds 65 individuals and 18 legal entities to Annex I, subjecting them to an EU-wide asset freeze and a prohibition on EU persons or entities making funds or economic resources available to them. The listed entities span Russia's defense-industrial base, military-linked vehicle and tyre manufacturing, and financial-market infrastructure.