Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2667 actions· ✨ 89 recent

Australia's Anti-Dumping Commission initiated a dumping and countervailing investigation on 23 October 2025 into freight railway wheels (forged and rolled high-carbon steel, 27.5"-37.5" outside diameter, Australian HS 8607.19.00.20) imported from China, following an application from Commonwealth Steel Company Pty Ltd. On 22 December 2025 the Commission issued Anti-Dumping Notice No. 2025/128, a preliminary affirmative dumping determination, imposing a provisional antidumping duty of 36.9% (applied uniformly to cooperating and non-cooperating exporters) via securities collected on imports from that date. The parallel countervailing-subsidy investigation continues; the Commission found insufficient evidence at this stage to support a preliminary affirmative countervailing determination.

On 2025-09-10 the Russian government adopted Resolution No. 1396, amending Resolution No. 2240 (2022-12-07), which raised import customs duty rates on selected goods from "unfriendly states." The duty on malt beer (HS 2203) rose from EUR 1.0/litre to EUR 1.5/litre and on cider and similar sparkling/still beverages (HS 2206) from 22.5% to 30% of customs value. The resolution also set new duty rates on automotive semi-trailers (HS 8716) of 35% of customs value for units exceeding 15 tonnes gross weight and at least 13.6 m in length, and 20% for refrigerated semi-trailers with cargo volume of at least 76 m³; Hungary and Slovakia were excluded from the "unfriendly state" designation for these lines. The measure entered into force on 2025-09-20, seven days after official publication, and was set to run through 2025-12-31 (subsequently extended to 2027-12-31 by a later resolution).

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).

The US Department of Commerce initiated less-than-fair-value investigations of certain freight rail couplers and parts thereof from the Czech Republic (case A-851-806) and India (case A-533-940) on 12 August 2025, covering the period of investigation 1 July 2024 - 30 June 2025. On 6 May 2026 Commerce issued preliminary affirmative determinations, finding dumping margins of 60.05% for the Czech Republic and 5.32% for India, and imposed provisional antidumping cash-deposit requirements at those rates effective the same date; the final determination was postponed. A parallel preliminary affirmative countervailing-duty determination for India was published 3 March 2026 (case C-533-941). Commerce postponed the original preliminary deadline (initially due 9 March 2026) via a 23 February 2026 notice citing a lapse-in-appropriations tolling of deadlines and an EDIS filing backlog.

Brazil's Foreign Trade Chamber executive committee (GECEX) issued Resolution No. 768, dated 25 July 2025 and published in the Diário Oficial da União on 28 July 2025, amending the single annex of Resolução Gecex nº 311/2022 — the Ex-Tarifário regime that grants temporary reduced (typically 0%) import-duty rates on trucks, trailers/semi-trailers, motorised chassis, bodies/cabins, road tractors, and agricultural/self-propelled road machinery tariff lines for which no equivalent domestic production exists. The amendment took effect 4 August 2025. Global Trade Alert classifies the measure as a "Red" (trade-restrictive/discriminatory) import- tariff intervention, consistent with its treatment of GECEX's narrow, discretionary Ex-Tarifário product-line grants as favouring specific importers rather than liberalising trade economy-wide.

Brazil's Câmara de Comércio Exterior (Gecex) approved Resolução nº 756, de 7 de julho de 2025, amending Annexes V, VI and X of the base tariff-nomenclature resolution (Gecex nº 272/2021, the instrument that adapted Brazil's Common Mercosur Nomenclature/Common External Tariff schedule to the 2022 Harmonized System revision). The amendment changes import tariffs and tariff-rate quotas for a narrow set of product lines including airport fire-fighting vehicles (NCM 8705.30.00), sterile saline flush and elevator guide rails, with a companion Portaria Secex nº 410/2025 setting the quota-allocation criteria. Global Trade Alert flags China, Germany and Italy as the principal affected trading partners.

New Zealand Customs Service, acting under section 8 of the Tariff Act 1988, published Tariff Concession Approvals, Withdrawals and Declines Notice (No. 18) 2025 in the Gazette on 4 July 2025. The notice withdraws 16 previously approved duty-free tariff concessions spanning laminated films, building panels, filtering and aggregate-processing equipment, thermostatic valves, railway safety systems and anti-pollution barriers, effective 14 days from publication, with importers given one calendar month to lodge objections. This is a routine, periodic administrative tariff-concession withdrawal cycle rather than a discrete policy announcement.

The Australian Border Force published Commonwealth of Australia Gazette No. TC 25/25 on 2 July 2025 under sections 269K and 269R of the Customs Act 1901, covering new Tariff Concession Order (TCO) applications and TCOs made for goods not produced domestically (solvents, adhesives, geotextiles, ceramics, glass fibre fabric, HDPE/LLDPE resins, subsea and rail hardware), each carrying a 5% general-tariff duty-free concession, plus revocations and a cheese quota allocation notice. This is a routine, periodic administrative tariff-concession cycle rather than a discrete policy announcement.

China's Ministry of Commerce issued Announcement 2025 No. 3 on 9 January 2025, the Final Determination of its Trade and Investment Barrier (TIB) investigation into the European Commission's enforcement practices under the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR). MOFCOM concluded that EC practices in FSR investigations targeting Chinese enterprises in rail transport, photovoltaics, wind energy, and security-equipment public procurement constitute trade and investment barriers under Article 3 of China's Rules on Trade and Investment Barrier Investigations (对外贸易壁垒调查规则). The determination documents €20.88 billion in estimated economic losses — including €10.18 billion from abandoned bids — and finds de-facto discrimination against Chinese SOEs relative to investors from other jurisdictions. MOFCOM committed to taking "necessary measures" including bilateral consultations, multilateral dispute settlement, or "other appropriate measures" to safeguard Chinese enterprises' legitimate rights and interests.