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

The European Commission approved Bulgaria's Electricity Price Relief Scheme (State Aid Case SA.120414) under the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF), authorising €334 million for energy-intensive industries over a three-year corridor from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2028. Aid is delivered via a reduction on beneficiaries' monthly electricity bills through their suppliers, subject to a minimum price floor of €50/MWh. This is the first EU member-state scheme approved under the CISAF framework, establishing the precedential template for subsequent CISAF approvals across the EU industrial base.

The European Commission cleared, under EU State aid rules, a rescue loan of up to EUR 390 million from the Italian government to Acciaierie d'Italia (AdI, formerly ILVA), operator of Italy's largest integrated steelworks at Taranto. AdI has been under insolvency administration since February 2024 and faces near-term liquidity shortfalls to cover operating costs — supplier payments and wages — while a tender process to sell the business to a new operator continues. The loan is capped at the projected liquidity shortfall, priced at a market interest rate, and limited to a maximum six-month duration, consistent with EU rescue-aid conditions.

The European Commission approved EUR 321.8 million (approx. USD 343.4 million) in additional German state aid (case SA.104276) for Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH's SALCOS ("Salzgitter Low CO2 Steelmaking") Stage I decarbonisation project. The increment lifted the German federal and Lower Saxony state governments' combined funding commitment for Stage I to EUR 1.322 billion, split roughly two-thirds federal (BMWK) and one-third Land Niedersachsen, after the German government publicly confirmed the top-up on 24 February 2026. Stage I comprises a 100MW electrolyser, a direct-reduction-iron plant, and an electric-arc furnace intended to replace blast-furnace/basic- oxygen-furnace production and cut CO2 emissions from the affected process by up to 95%, targeting start-up from 2027.

On 29 December 2025, Brazil's national development bank BNDES approved R$1.13 billion (~USD 205 million) in financing for Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) to modernise three industrial plants at the Usina Presidente Vargas in Volta Redonda (RJ). R$625.8 million comes through the Finem credit line for sintering-plant emissions-control upgrades (new electrostatic precipitators and bag filters) that partly reimburse investments CSN made since 2023 to satisfy a Term of Adjustment of Conduct (TAC) with Rio de Janeiro's state environmental agency (INEA). A further R$500 million comes through the BNDES Mais Inovação programme for innovative machinery, IT equipment and IoT technology services. BNDES states the financing "fortalece a cadeia produtiva nacional de equipamentos" (strengthens the national equipment supply chain), giving the operation a domestic-content-preference dimension alongside its environmental/innovation financing purpose.

On 26 December 2025, Japan's Cabinet approved the FY2026 (Reiwa 8) national budget, which allocates JPY 122.0 billion (~USD 800m) to the "Next-Generation Innovative Reactor Technology Development and Industrial Base Strengthening Support Project" (次世代革新炉の技術開発・産業基盤強化支援事業), up from JPY 88.9 billion in the FY2025 initial budget plus a JPY 6.0 billion FY2025 supplementary allocation. The programme, administered by ANRE under METI's GX (Green Transformation) Promotion budget, funds technology development and supply-chain build-out for Japan's "innovative light-water reactors" (revised BWR/PWR designs with enhanced passive safety) and small modular reactors under the government's GX2040 Vision. The budget takes effect with Japan's fiscal year on 1 April 2026, subject to ordinary Diet passage in early 2026.

The European Commission approved a EUR 61 million Belgian state rescue loan to Lineas Group, Europe's largest private rail-freight operator, to cover short-term liquidity needs. The Commission cleared the loan under Article 107(3)(c) TFEU and the EU Guidelines on Rescue and Restructuring Aid (case SA.120185), citing an unexpected slowdown in industrial demand for rail freight in the European steel, automotive and chemical sectors. Belgium has committed to submit a restructuring plan if the loan is not repaid within six months. In a related decision (case SA.101469) the Commission found that two earlier 2023-2024 capital injections into Lineas by the Belgian sovereign fund SFPIM alongside private co-investor Argos Wityu were made on market terms and do not constitute state aid.

On 25 November 2025 the US EPA announced USD 3 billion in new Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) assistance under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), plus reallocation of a further USD 1.1 billion in previously awarded but unspent state funds, bringing total redirected funding to USD 4.1 billion for state lead service line replacement (LSLR) programmes. Global Trade Alert logs the intervention as a public-procurement-localisation measure because DWSRF/IIJA capital- grant assistance carries standing Build America, Buy America Act (BABA) domestic-content requirements for the iron, steel, and manufactured construction products (pipe, fittings) used in funded replacement work. States that have not obligated or spent funds awarded since FY2023 must submit an implementation plan before accessing new funding.

On 20 November 2025 the US EPA opened the 9th round of Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) lending — USD 6.5 billion in WIFIA financing plus USD 550 million under the State WIFIA (SWIFIA) program, USD 7.05 billion in total newly available capacity — and simultaneously approved five new WIFIA loans totaling USD 711 million across Fort Worth TX (USD 347m), Pflugerville TX (USD 176m), Joliet IL (USD 87m), Ashland OR (USD 73m) and Wilton Manors FL (USD 28m). Global Trade Alert logs each individual loan as a public-procurement-localisation intervention because WIFIA capital assistance carries a standing American Iron and Steel (AIS) domestic-content requirement for iron, steel and manufactured products used in EPA-financed water infrastructure — a structural condition of the WIFIA statute rather than a provision unique to this announcement.

On 20 November 2025 the Federal Transit Administration announced USD 2,027,948,082 in combined FY2025 Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities and FY2025/2026 Low or No Emission (Low-No) Program awards, covering 165 projects across 45 states and the District of Columbia: USD 397.7 million for 62 Bus Facilities projects and USD 1.63 billion for 103 Low-No projects, funding roughly 2,400 replacement buses. Global Trade Alert logs the round as a public-procurement-localisation intervention because both programs carry standing Build America, Buy America Act (BABA) domestic-content requirements — buses and manufactured components funded by the awards must be produced with US-made iron, steel, and manufactured products and final-assembled domestically. FTA formalised the full project list via Federal Register notice on 15 January 2026.

On 4 November 2025 Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) launched a new "steel export supply-chain strengthening guarantee" product as part of a broader steel-industry advancement plan. POSCO and the Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) jointly seeded KRW 20 billion, on which the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-Sure) built a KRW 400 billion (~USD 274 million) preferential guarantee program for small and mid-sized steel exporters and steel-derivative producers hit by tightening trade barriers abroad, chiefly the US Section 232 steel tariff regime. Benefits include interest-rate cuts of up to 2 percentage points, guarantee-period extension from 1 to 3 years, a guarantee-fee cut from 1% to 0.7%, and expanded guarantee limits.

The Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission and the Zhongguancun Science Park Management Committee, jointly with two other municipal departments, issued "Several Measures on Supporting the Construction of the Beijing Future Digital Space Innovation Pilot Zone" on 2025-10-23 (publicly posted 2025-10-27). The "2+3+5" package of ten measures subsidizes frontier-technology demonstration scenarios (up to 30% of certified investment, capped at RMB 10,000,000), original game and digital-content production (RMB 300,000-2,000,000 per award-winning title), key laboratories (up to RMB 5,000,000/year operating funds plus rent discounts on up to 4,000 sqm, for up to 3 years), industry-chain innovation consortia (up to RMB 20,000,000/year, RMB 50,000,000 over 3 years), and incubators (up to RMB 20,000,000 over 3 years), alongside seed/angel/Series-A co-investment minimums via an industry fund. The pilot zone is anchored on the former Shougang steelworks north campus (core area) and the Jin'anqiao AI large-model industry cluster (innovation-coordination area), both in Beijing's Shijingshan district.

On 2025-09-29 the Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario announced binding term sheets to provide Algoma Steel Inc. with C$500 million in liquidity support: C$400 million (including an C$80 million secured tranche) in loan facilities from the federal government via the Large Enterprise Tariff Loan (LETL) facility, administered by the Canada Enterprise Emergency Funding Corporation, and C$100 million (including a C$20 million secured tranche) from the Province of Ontario. The package is explicitly framed as protection for Canadian steel jobs against the impact of US Section 232 steel tariffs, intended to help Algoma sustain operations and continue its transition toward electric-arc-furnace steelmaking while reducing US-market dependence. The financing transaction closed on 2025-11-17.

On 23 September 2025 the European Commission approved, under EU State aid rules (case SA.120081), a EUR 100 million budget increase to Portugal's scheme compensating energy-intensive companies for indirect emission costs — the higher electricity prices passed through from carbon costs under the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS). The increase raises the scheme's total budget to EUR 275 million and was notified to avoid a significant reduction in per-company compensation levels for costs incurred during 2021-2030 (final payments due 2031). The Commission found the amended scheme continues to satisfy the ETS State aid Guidelines, which exist to prevent carbon leakage — energy-intensive firms relocating production outside the EU to jurisdictions with less ambitious climate policy.

Japan's state-owned Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) announced on 2025-09-18 that it executed "hybrid finance" — a subordinated-debt instrument treated as partly equity by rating agencies — in support of Nippon Steel Corporation's acquisition of United States Steel Corporation. DBJ's participation formed part of a JPY 500 billion (~USD 3.4bn) committed subordinated term-loan facility, syndicated alongside Japan's three megabanks (MUFG, SMFG, Mizuho) and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust, that Nippon Steel closed the same day to repay short-term bridge loans used to fund the consideration for its USD 14.9bn acquisition of US Steel. DBJ extended the financing under its "Specific Investment Operations" (特定投資業務) program, which is reserved for deals it deems to strengthen the international competitiveness of Japanese industry.

SARS inserted rebate item 460.15/7306.40/01.06 into Part 2 of Schedule No. 4 to the Customs and Excise Act, 1964 (Government Gazette 53334, Notice R.6596, 12 September 2025), giving effect to ITAC Report No. 742. The item creates a temporary duty rebate on stainless-steel tubing (HS 7306.40) used in the manufacture and maintenance of processing plants for the hygienic and liquid-food industries. ITAC found no known SACU manufacturer produces stainless-steel tubing to the required hygienic/ food-grade specifications, and no near-term prospect of local production given cost constraints, so it recommended a full duty waiver subject to an ITAC permit confirming the goods are not available in the SACU market. Applicant: Guth South Africa (equipment supplier to the hygienic and liquid-food processing sector).

On 3 September 2025 South Korea's Financial Services Commission announced an expanded KRW 1 trillion (approx. USD 720 million) Corporate Restructuring Fund No.6 (기업구조혁신펀드 6호), scaling up from the KRW 500 billion originally budgeted in the 2025 first supplementary budget. The fund targets marginal ("한계기업") companies in six export-oriented key industries — petrochemicals, steel, automotive, semiconductors, displays and secondary batteries — whose financial position is deteriorating due to recent US tariff actions. KAMCO ran a fund-manager recruitment call from 3-24 September 2025, selecting four operators to run blind funds, with formation targeted for October 2025. At least 60% of raised capital must be invested in the six target industries, and the subordinated (first-loss) capital contribution ratio was raised from 5% to 10% versus prior restructuring funds to attract private co-investment.

On 31 August 2025, Germany's federally mandated export credit agency (branded "Euler Hermes" / AGA, operated by Euler Hermes Aktiengesellschaft on behalf of the Federal Republic) confirmed export credit guarantee cover — spanning manufacturing risk, supplier credit, contract bond, and buyer credit cover — backing SMS group GmbH's (Düsseldorf) export of a cold rolling complex to H2 Green Steel's hydrogen-based direct-reduction steelworks under construction in Boden, northern Sweden. The guarantee de-risks a German capital-goods export underpinning one of Europe's first large-scale near-zero-carbon primary steel plants. Global Trade Alert logs this as a state trade-finance intervention; the guaranteed amount itself is not publicly disclosed.

On 20 August 2025 Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced a supplementary KRW 100 billion (approx. USD 71.5 million) round of concessional loans under the 2025 Carbon-Neutral Transition Pioneer Project, recruiting applicants from 21 August to 19 September 2025. Loans carry a 1.3% annual interest rate, a 10-year term (3-year grace period plus 7 equal annual installments), and are capped at KRW 50 billion in facility financing per company plus a separate KRW 10 billion R&D-loan ceiling, funding greenhouse-gas-reduction facilities and R&D. EU CBAM-exposed industries, companies with government-approved business-restructuring plans, and firms selected for the "Net Zero Challenge X" program receive priority evaluation points.

On 2025-08-13 the Government of Ontario launched the Protect Ontario Financing Program, offering term loans of C$250,000 to C$40 million per business, with repayment terms of up to six years, to Ontario-based companies in the steel, aluminum, copper and automotive sectors facing working-capital strain from US Section 232 tariffs. The program is the first phase of the province's broader C$5 billion "Protecting Ontario Account" and is administered by the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. Eligible firms must show at least C$2 million in annual revenue, 10+ full-time Ontario employees, three years of operations, and must have exhausted or faced significant barriers accessing comparable federal support.

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.

Italy's national development bank, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), provided EUR 30 million in financing to the Pittini Group, one of Italy's largest steel producers, to fund sustainability investments at its Verona and Udine plants. The financing covers a low-emission transfer system for semi-finished steel products and more efficient water-treatment and production facilities. The deal is state development-bank support for decarbonisation capex in a strategic heavy-industry sector rather than a trade-restrictive measure.

On 2025-06-26, South Korea's National R&D Program Evaluation General Committee approved the preliminary feasibility study (예비타당성조사) for the "Korean-style Hydrogen Reduction Steelmaking Demonstration Technology Development Project," clearing state funding of KRW 308.8 billion (part of a KRW 814.6 billion total project cost) over 2026-2030. The program funds a 300,000-tonne-scale demonstration process using the domestic FINEX process to produce hydrogen-reduced iron and molten iron from iron ore and hydrogen, plus a parallel track for small and mid-sized firms to use hydrogen-reduced iron in existing electric-arc furnaces. The technology targets a 95%+ cut in per-tonne carbon emissions versus blast-furnace steelmaking, positioning Korean steel (POSCO, Hyundai Steel) for the EU CBAM and global green-steel premium markets.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) committed AUD 19.8 million to the NeoSmelt joint venture to fund a front-end engineering design (FEED) study for a direct reduced iron-electric smelting furnace (DRI-ESF) pilot plant at Kwinana, Western Australia, aimed at proving Pilbara iron ore can be converted into lower-carbon iron without a coking-coal blast furnace. The consortium, founded by BlueScope, BHP and Rio Tinto, welcomed Woodside Energy and Mitsui Iron Ore Development as new equal-equity participants alongside the grant announcement. Total project cost is AUD 48.85 million, with the study running from May 2025 to August 2026 ahead of a targeted final investment decision.

The Italian government approved Decreto-Legge 26 giugno 2025, n. 92 ("Misure urgenti di sostegno ai comparti produttivi"), authorising up to EUR 200 million in financing for ILVA S.p.A. in extraordinary administration — the operator of the former Ilva steelworks at Taranto — to fund production continuity and plant-safety works. The financing can be disbursed directly to ILVA or transferred to Acciaierie d'Italia S.p.A. The same decree extends tax relief for companies operating in designated "complex industrial crisis area" zones for fiscal years 2025 and 2026. The decree was published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale and entered into force on 27 June 2025.

The Government of Quebec, through Investissement Québec and the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks, announced CAD 34 million in combined state loans, debentures, own-funds investment and environmental grants to Galv-Éco for construction of an eco-responsible hot-dip galvanizing plant in Saint-Urbain, Charlevoix. The CAD 77 million facility will host Canada's largest zinc immersion tank, process up to 50,000 tonnes of steel annually, and use biomass and hydroelectric heating rather than fossil fuel. The plant is expected to create 95 jobs and begin operations in early 2026.

MIMIT signed an "Accordo di Programma" with Gruppo Arvedi covering the industrial reconversion and environmental remediation of the Acciai Speciali Terni (AST) steelworks. The state is supporting the plan through a "Contratto di sviluppo per Tutela Ambientale" administered by Invitalia, with requested state financial support of EUR 96.5 million against a total company investment plan of EUR 557 million to be completed by 2028 (with a further EUR 573 million potential second phase). The agreement includes commitments on air-pollution reduction, landfill remediation, renewable energy procurement via Umbria's hydroelectric concessions, and workforce retention/stabilisation.

Spain's Ministry of Industry and Tourism (MINCOTUR) provisionally approved EUR 90 million in grants across five industrial-decarbonisation projects under Line 4 of the PERTE Descarbonización (Spain's Recovery-and-Resilience-Plan-funded strategic decarbonisation programme). The largest award, EUR 60 million, went to Hydnum Puertollano (Ciudad Real) for a green-steel mill; other recipients were Biotérmica Villanueva (EUR 12m for a biomass plant converting orange waste to energy in Huelva, plus EUR 4.6m for an olive-pomace renewable-energy plant in Lebrija, Sevilla), Alier (EUR 9.6m, sustainable recycled-paper production in Zaragoza), and Cimsa Cementos España (EUR 3.7m, emissions reduction in Buñol, Valencia cement manufacturing). The announcement, made by Industry Minister Jordi Hereu on 23 April 2025, brought total PERTE Descarbonización disbursement to approximately EUR 570 million across 93 projects nationwide.

Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy published the "Bundesförderung Industrie und Klimaschutz" (BIK) funding guideline on 23 August 2024 and opened the first funding call on 30 August 2024, making roughly EUR 3.3 billion available through 2030 — financed from the Klima- und Transformationsfonds (KTF) — to decarbonise industrial SMEs and large manufacturers. Module 1 funds decarbonisation investment and R&D projects up to EUR 200 million per project; Module 2 funds carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCU/CCS) investment (up to EUR 30 million) and research (up to EUR 35 million) projects. A second funding call opened in January 2026, and individual awards under the programme — including a EUR 140 million grant to Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann GmbH for its EAF2HKM electric-arc-furnace steel-decarbonisation project — have since been logged as state aid by Global Trade Alert.

The Diet enacted on 31 May 2024 (promulgated 7 June 2024 as Law No. 45 of 2024) the "Act on Partially Amending the Act on Strengthening Industrial Competitiveness and Other Acts to Create New Business and Encourage Investment in Industries". The provisions establishing Japan's first US IRA-style production-and-sales-linked tax credit took effect 2 September 2024 per METI's press release of the same date. Eligible enterprises with a METI-certified business plan can claim tax deductions tied to domestic production-and-sales volume of five designated strategic products: electric vehicles, green steel, green chemicals, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and semiconductors. The credit is available for ten years from certification (certifications must be issued by 31 March 2027), with an annual cap of 40% of corporate tax liability (20% for semiconductors) and a 4-year carry-forward. Eligibility is conditional on meeting wage-growth or capital-investment thresholds in each fiscal year.

The Union Cabinet approved the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Specialty Steel on 22 July 2021; the scheme was notified in the Gazette of India on 29 July 2021 by the Ministry of Steel and detailed scheme guidelines were published on 20 October 2021. Total outlay: Rs 6,322 crore (~USD 850m) over five years (FY 2024-25 through FY 2028-29). The scheme covers five product categories (coated/plated products, high-strength / wear-resistant steel, specialty rails, alloy steel and steel wires, and electrical steel) across 19 sub-categories, and offers incentives of 4-12% on incremental sales for end-to-end domestic specialty-steel production with melted-and-poured input requirement. PLI 1.1 reopened applications on 6 January 2025; PLI 1.2 (third round) was launched in 2025-2026 with a revised four-category / 22-sub-category structure and incentive rates up to 15%.