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

On 31 December 2025, China's Ministry of Commerce and General Administration of Customs jointly published Announcement No. 91 of 2025, releasing the 2026 edition of the Catalogue of Dual-Use Items and Technologies Subject to Import and Export Licence Administration, effective 1 January 2026. The update replaces the 2025 catalogue and is issued under the Export Control Law of the PRC and the Regulations on Export Control of Dual-Use Items. Key additions to the export-licensing perimeter include samarium, gadolinium, and lutetium compounds — mid-to-heavy rare earths critical for permanent magnets (EV motors, wind turbines), phosphors (medical imaging, displays), and defence applications — requiring MOFCOM export licences for all covered shipments from 1 January 2026.

Türkiye's Ministry of Trade published Tebliğ No. 2026/15 ("İthalatta Gözetim Uygulanmasına İlişkin Tebliğ") in the Official Gazette on 31 December 2025 (Sayı 33124, 4th mükerrer), entering into force 30 January 2026 (30 days after publication). It imposes a forward-looking import surveillance regime on motor vehicle safety glass — windscreens, rear windows and other automotive safety glazing under GTİP 8708.22. Whenever the declared unit customs value falls below the Ministry-set reference floor of USD 6.5/kg (gross weight), import is only permitted with a surveillance certificate ("gözetim belgesi") issued electronically by the Ministry's Import Directorate General, which customs requires at declaration registration. Global Trade Alert lists Belgium, China and Czechia as the principally affected exporting countries.

At its 30 December 2025 regular session, Iraq's Council of Ministers, chaired by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al-Sudani, approved two additional customs duties on imports from all countries of origin: a 40% additional duty on medical and industrial oxygen (gaseous and liquid forms), in effect for four years, and a 30% additional duty on imported yogurt (laban rayeb) and liquid milk. Both measures were framed as protecting domestic pharmaceutical/ industrial-gas production and local dairy manufacturing respectively, and take effect 120 days after issuance (29 April 2026) to give importers an adjustment window. Global Trade Alert logs the dairy duty as principally affecting Germany, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye as leading supplier origins, though the measure itself is non-discriminatory (applies to all origins).

Taiwan's Legislative Yuan passed the Artificial Intelligence Basic Act (人工智慧基本法) on third reading on 23 December 2025, and President Lai Ching-te promulgated the 20-article statute on 14 January 2026, bringing it into force immediately. The Act designates the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) as the central AI-policy competent authority and codifies seven governance principles — sustainability and well-being, human autonomy, privacy protection and data governance, cybersecurity and safety, transparency and explainability, fairness and non-discrimination, and accountability — that apply to all public-sector AI procurement and high-risk sectoral applications. The statute establishes a statutory foundation for the Taiwan AI Action Plan 2.0, mandates an Executive Yuan National AI Strategy Committee, and provides authority for sector-specific implementing regulations by FSC, NCC, MOHW, and MOTC across finance, telecoms, medical, and autonomous-vehicle AI within a two-year window. As the first national AI governance statute in the Greater China region and the third globally after the EU AI Act and South Korea's AI Basic Act, it frames regulatory expectations for the companies at the heart of the global AI hardware supply chain — TSMC, NVIDIA ODM partners, and advanced-packaging incumbents — that are headquartered or operate substantially in Taiwan.

The US Department of War announced an USD 18.5 million Defense Production Act (DPA) Title III investment in Lattice Materials (Bozeman, Montana) to expand its capacity to produce optical-grade germanium and silicon crystals and to establish a new capability to recover germanium metal from recycled scrap. The award, funded from the Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2022, was approved on 26 September 2025 but public announcement was delayed to 22 December 2025 by the federal government shutdown. Lattice is a leading US manufacturer of germanium and silicon infrared optical lenses, windows and mirrors used in defense surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting systems.

Arrêté ministériel n° 00964/CAB.MIN/MINES/01/2025, signed 19 December 2025 by DRC Mines Minister Louis Watum Kabamba, suspends with immediate effect all activities of entities (notably comptoirs d'achat / buying counters, treatment units and similar structures) involved in the purchase, processing, transformation and commercialisation of copper and cobalt minerals sourced from artisanal exploitation across the country. Industrial, legally established mining operators are excluded. The order requires affected entities to submit compliance documentation within ten days, establishes an ad hoc commission to verify administrative, legal, technical and traceability conformity (15-day review window), and obliges operators to demonstrate the lawful origin of their supplies in line with OECD due-diligence guidance. Framed as a "conservatory" measure to restore order in the cupro-cobaltifère value chain and curb illicit exports.

The European Investment Bank signed a EUR 250 million unfunded partial-delegation risk-sharing operation with Natixis on 19 December 2025 (EIB project ref. 20240252, "Natixis Pan-EU Wind Power Package"), under the EIB's broader Pan-EU Wind Power Package Risk Sharing envelope (ref. 20230650, approved 13 December 2023, EUR 6.5 billion EIB exposure against a total programme size of roughly EUR 104 billion). Natixis will issue advance-payment and performance guarantees to original equipment manufacturers supplying wind farm components — turbines, grid-connection infrastructure, cables, transformer stations and sub-stations — against a total project cost of roughly EUR 4 billion, with the EIB citing an expected mobilisation of approximately EUR 8 billion in wind energy equipment investment across the EU. Global Trade Alert separately logs the transaction as a "red"-flagged state-linked lending-support intervention (state act 95948 / intervention 151841).

On 19 December 2025 the Swiss Federal Assembly adopted in final vote the Federal Act on the Screening of Foreign Investments (Bundesgesetz über die Prüfung ausländischer Investitionen, Investitionsprüfgesetz / IPG; popularly the "Lex China", parliamentary business 22.035). The Act introduces Switzerland's first general ex-ante FDI-screening regime: acquisitions of control over Swiss companies active in security-critical sectors by foreign state-controlled investors require prior approval by SECO, with escalation to the Federal Council. The optional- referendum window runs until 17 April 2026; entry into force is not expected before 2027 once implementing ordinances are adopted. Critical sectors named in the Act include military and dual-use goods, electricity grids and generation, water supply, pharma and health, telecommunications, transport infrastructure and financial-market infrastructure.

Australia's government-owned Clean Energy Finance Corporation announced on 18 December 2025 an AUD 147 million (approx. USD 97 million) investment backing Aula Energy's Carmody's Hill Wind Farm, a 256.2 MW, 42-turbine project in mid-north South Australia (180km north of Adelaide) connecting into the existing 275kV Davenport-to-Brinkworth transmission line. The CEFC states this is the first wind farm to reach notice-to-proceed with Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) agreement support and the first large-scale wind farm in the National Electricity Market to reach notice-to-proceed in 2025. Aula Energy has secured an offtake agreement covering more than 40% of generation with Snowy Hydro; the project is expected to support up to 200 construction jobs and power the equivalent of over 195,000 South Australian homes. Global Trade Alert separately logs the transaction as a "red"-flagged state-aid intervention (state act 95753 / intervention 151501).

The European Investment Bank signed a EUR 400 million unfunded risk-sharing guarantee operation with Barclays Europe on 18 December 2025 (EIB project ref. 20250198, "Barclays Pan-EU Wind Power Package RS"), the first-ever EIB-Barclays cooperation and a bank-level sub-operation under the EIB's broader Pan-EU Wind Power Package Risk Sharing envelope. Barclays will issue counter-guaranteed advance-payment and performance bonds to wind-energy original equipment manufacturers (turbines, cables, substations, foundations, grid interconnectors), with EUR 250 million of the guarantee capacity earmarked for Germany and EUR 150 million for other EU member states, and the EIB citing an expected mobilisation of roughly EUR 800 million in wind supply-chain investment EU-wide. Global Trade Alert separately logs the transaction as a "red"-flagged state-linked lending-support intervention (state act 96017 / intervention 151940).

The European Investment Bank signed a EUR 270 million unfunded partial-delegation risk-sharing guarantee operation with HSBC Continental Europe on 18 December 2025 (EIB project ref. 20240190, "HSBC Pan-EU Wind Package RS Facility"), a bank-level sub-operation under the EIB's broader Pan-EU Wind Power Package Risk Sharing envelope (ref. 20230650, approved 13 December 2023). HSBC will issue counter- guaranteed advance-payment and performance bonds to EU wind-energy equipment manufacturers (turbines, cables, substations, grid interconnectors), against a total project cost of roughly EUR 4,320 million, with the disclosed country allocation split roughly EUR 158.8 million to Germany and EUR 111.2 million to Greece. Global Trade Alert separately logs the transaction as a "red"-flagged state-linked lending-support intervention (state act 96018 / intervention 151942).

The European Commission approved a €4.1 billion Hungarian state aid scheme (SA.120705) under Section 6.1 of the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF), authorising grants and tax advantages for strategic investments that add cleantech-manufacturing capacity across Hungary through 31 December 2030. Eligible activities cover net-zero technologies listed in Annex II of the CISAF — batteries, solar PV, wind turbines, electrolysers, heat pumps, and CCUS equipment — plus their main specific components and the production or recovery of related critical raw materials. The scheme is open to companies across the whole territory of Hungary and is the CISAF-era successor to Hungary's EUR 2.36 billion TCTF net-zero scheme (approved 2023-08-30, aid deadline 31 December 2025), which channelled the bulk of Chinese and Korean battery/EV-supply-chain FDI into the Debrecen–Szeged–Göd–Nyíregyháza industrial cluster.

KfW IPEX-Bank, the project- and export-finance arm of Germany's state-owned development bank KfW, announced on 17 December 2025 that it co-arranged a EUR 1.6 billion (approx. USD 1.88 billion) financing package for CEE RF9, a repowering fund managed by CEE Group (a Brookfield Asset Management-backed renewables asset manager), alongside UniCredit, CIBC, ING, SMBC and SEB. The financing funds equipment upgrades (more powerful turbines and PV modules) across at least 29 of CEE Group's 45 existing wind and solar plants in Germany, with individual plants also located in France, targeting a capacity increase from 457 MW to approximately 1.1 GW (a 140%+ increase) by 2030. Global Trade Alert separately logs the transaction as a "red"-flagged state-linked lending-support intervention (state act 95847 / intervention 151684).

The European Investment Bank signed a EUR 200 million multi-beneficiary intermediated loan (guarantee) with IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG on 15 December 2025, under the "IKB Loan for Midcaps MBIL" operation. The facility backs a total lending volume of roughly EUR 400 million to German mid-sized and large corporates, with a 30% Climate Action and Environmental Sustainability window earmarked for renewable energy (primarily solar PV and onshore wind) and energy-efficiency investments in industry. Per the EIB project record, the signed allocation splits EUR 48.6 million to energy, EUR 11.4 million to industry/construction, and EUR 140 million to general credit lines. Global Trade Alert separately logs the transaction as a "red"-flagged state-linked lending-support intervention.

On 12 December 2025 the Swiss Federal Council adopted the first tranche of listings aligning with the EU's 19th Russia sanctions package (Council Regulation (EU) 2025/2033, 23 October 2025), amending the Ordinance on Measures in Connection with the Situation in Ukraine and the Belarus Ordinance with effect from 13 December 2025. The decision adds asset freezes and entry/transit bans for 22 natural persons and 42 entities tied to Russia's military-industrial complex, energy sector and shadow-fleet vessel management; extends purchase/sale/insurance bans to over 100 additional tankers; imposes transaction restrictions on 5 Russian banks and 4 Russian-bank branches in Belarus and Kazakhstan for use of specialised financial-messaging services; sanctions Chinese and Hong Kong trading companies and refineries implicated in circumventing the G7 oil price cap; and designates 5 Belarusian persons linked to military-industrial activities. Divestment-exemption deadlines for Swiss persons winding down Russian holdings are extended to end-2026. This is a partial, listings-only tranche — the more substantive measures of the EU's 19th package (Russian LNG import ban, crypto-services prohibition, AI/HPC service bans) were not adopted until the Federal Council's follow-on decision of 25 February 2026.

The Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (BDA, also known as Yizhuang) Management Committee issued Notice 京技管发〔2025〕33号 on 9 December 2025 ("Several Measures to Accelerate the Cultivation of the Future Energy Industry"), effective through 31 December 2028. The package subsidises R&D, shared technology platforms, industrialisation projects and demonstration deployment across new-type energy storage (solid-state batteries, supercapacitors, flow batteries), clean-energy generation (advanced wind, perovskite solar, hydrogen production/storage), low-carbon transition tech (CCUS, smart grid control) and fusion energy (magnetic and inertial confinement). R&D support runs up to 30% of annual enterprise R&D spend; demonstration-scenario procurement is subsidised up to 30% of cost capped at RMB 500,000 per project; first-of-kind product recognition pays up to RMB 150,000 per project per year. Global Trade Alert logged the underlying state act (95719) as a single "state aid, unspecified" intervention (151443).

On 10 December 2025 the National Assembly of Vietnam adopted Law No. 134/2025/QH15 on Artificial Intelligence (8 chapters, 35 articles), Vietnam's first dedicated AI statutory framework and one of the first comprehensive horizontal AI laws in Southeast Asia. The law establishes a three-tier risk-based regulatory architecture (high / medium / low) for the research, development, provision, deployment, and use of AI systems; defines the rights and obligations of providers, deployers, importers, distributors, and users; and mandates state oversight via the Ministry of Information & Communications and Ministry of Science & Technology. Prohibited acts include systematic deception, manipulation of human perception, generation of fake content endangering national security, exploitation of vulnerable populations, and obstruction of human-supervision mechanisms. The law applies to Vietnamese agencies, organizations, and individuals as well as foreign organizations and individuals involved in AI-related activities in Vietnam, taking effect 1 March 2026 with 12-18 month transition windows for existing systems depending on sector.

Vietnam's National Assembly passed Law on Cybersecurity No. 116/2025/QH15 on 10 December 2025 (434 of 443 deputies in favour), effective 1 July 2026. The law supersedes both the 2018 Cybersecurity Law (Law 24/2018/QH14) and the 2015 Law on Cyber Information Security, consolidating cybersecurity, cyber-information-security, and network-information-security into a unified Ministry of Public Security-led framework. It retains data-localization obligations for foreign digital-service providers handling personal data, user-generated content, and relationship graphs of Vietnamese users (minimum 24-month retention), introduces 6-hour urgent / 24-hour standard content take-down windows on MPS request, expressly prohibits AI/deepfake forgery of images, voices, and videos for illegal purposes, and mandates child-safety platform measures.

The European Commission approved an Italian State aid scheme worth EUR 1.5 billion (USD ~1.74 billion) under the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF), authorising direct grants, preferential loans, or a combination of both for strategic investments that add new cleantech manufacturing capacity. Eligible technologies span solar photovoltaic (including polysilicon, ingots, wafers, cells, solar glass, modules, inverters, tracking systems and mounting structures), onshore and offshore wind, heat pumps, geothermal, energy storage and batteries, hydrogen, and biomethane/biogas component manufacturing. The scheme is open to companies throughout Italy, is co-financed by the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), and runs until 31 December 2030.

The European Investment Bank signed a strategic agreement with Crédit Agricole CIB on 28 November 2025 under which the EIB provides a EUR 500 million counter-guarantee, enabling Crédit Agricole CIB to build a portfolio of bank guarantees worth up to EUR 1 billion for clients supplying new European wind farm projects. The EIB cites an expected leverage of up to EUR 8 billion in real-economy investment across the wind supply chain and electricity grid by 2027, backed by InvestEU and forming part of the EIB's broader EUR 6.5 billion Pan-EU Wind Power Package. Global Trade Alert separately logs the transaction as a "red"-flagged state-linked lending-support intervention (state act 95159).

On 26 November 2025 Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a package of measures to protect Canada's steel and softwood lumber industries, effective 26 December 2025. For steel, Canada tightened the tariff-rate quota (TRQ) available to countries without a Canada free trade agreement from 50% to 20% of 2024 import levels, and cut the TRQ for FTA partners outside CUSMA (i.e. not the US/Mexico) from 100% to 75% of 2024 levels; imports above quota face a 50% surtax. A new 25% tariff on the full value of listed steel-derivative products (doors, windows, fasteners, structural components and related goods) applies to all countries, covering an estimated CAD 10 billion+ of derivative imports. For softwood lumber, Canada added CAD 500 million to the BDC Softwood Lumber Guarantee Program (bringing it to CAD 1.2 billion) and earmarked a further CAD 500 million under the Large Enterprise Tariff Loan facility for lumber-sector liquidity support.

On 26 November 2025 the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved a Rs 7,280 crore (~USD 800 million) scheme to establish 6,000 MTPA of integrated sintered Rare Earth Permanent Magnet (REPM) manufacturing capacity in India. The Ministry of Heavy Industries will allocate capacity to five beneficiaries (up to 1,200 MTPA each) via global competitive bidding. The package combines a Rs 6,450 crore sales-linked incentive (PLI-style, paid on REPM sales over 5 years) with a Rs 750 crore capital subsidy for facility build-out. The scheme runs 7 years from award (2-year gestation + 5-year disbursement) and covers the full value chain from rare-earth oxides through metals, alloys, to finished sintered Nd-Fe-B and SmCo magnets.

Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma'aden), MP Materials Corp., and the US Department of Defense signed a binding term sheet on November 19, 2025 to establish a joint venture that will build and operate a rare earth refining and separation facility in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Ma'aden holds a minimum 51% controlling stake; MP Materials and the DoD together hold the remaining 49%. The facility will process rare earth feedstock from Saudi and global sources to produce separated light and heavy rare earth oxides, with a validity window to commercial agreement extending through March 31, 2027.

India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) notified the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 via Gazette notification G.S.R. 846(E) on 13 November 2025, operationalising the 2023 DPDP Act. The Rules introduce a "negative list" cross-border personal-data transfer regime under Rule 14, verifiable parental consent, breach-notification windows, and tiered penalties up to INR 250 crore. Implementation is phased: Data Protection Board provisions in force on notification, Consent Manager rules from 13 Nov 2026, and core data-fiduciary / cross-border-transfer obligations from 13 May 2027.

The Asian Development Bank signed a USD 331 million financing package with ReNew Vyoman Power Private Limited, a subsidiary of Indian independent power producer ReNew, to fund an 837 MWp solar-wind hybrid plant paired with a 415 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in Andhra Pradesh. ADB describes it as the first round-the-clock (24/7) peak renewable energy project it has financed, with the BESS enabling 300 MW of guaranteed baseload/peak delivery. Global Trade Alert logs the deal as a "red" (certainly harmful) state-linked lending intervention on the standard grounds that below-market multilateral development-bank financing to a named commercial producer is a potential trade- and competition-distorting subsidy.

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and General Administration of Customs (GAC) issued Announcement No. 72 (2025) on November 9, 2025, suspending Article 2 of Announcement No. 46 (2024) — the provision that had imposed a categorical export ban on gallium, germanium, antimony, superhard materials, and graphite dual-use items destined for the United States. The suspension is valid until November 27, 2026, reverting these exports to China's standard dual-use licensing framework for that period. Article 1 of Announcement No. 46 — prohibiting re-exports to US military end-users regardless of routing — remains fully in force. The measure followed bilateral US-China trade consultations and signals a conditional de-escalation window within China's established critical-minerals counter-strike posture.

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and General Administration of Customs (GAC) issued Announcement No. 70 (2025) on November 7, 2025, suspending for one year the package of rare-earth export-control measures announced on October 9, 2025 (Announcements Nos. 55, 56, 57, 58, 61, 62). The suspended measures include the licensing regime on medium- and heavy-rare-earth elements, rare-earth processing equipment and technologies, lithium-battery and synthetic-graphite anode materials, superhard materials, and — most significantly — the extraterritorial "0.1% content" rule of Announcement No. 61 that asserted licence jurisdiction over foreign-made products containing Chinese-origin controlled rare earths. The gazette text fixes the window explicitly: "自即日起至2026年11月10日" (from the date of issue until November 10, 2026). This is the rare-earth leg of the post-Busan US-China truce; the dual-use leg (gallium, germanium, antimony, graphite) was suspended two days later by the separate Announcement No. 72 (2025), which runs to November 27, 2026. The two instruments create a two-step expiry cliff in November 2026.

The European Commission approved on 6 November 2025 a EUR 700 million Spanish State aid scheme (SA.119884) under the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF Section 6.1), to support the build-out of new manufacturing capacity for net-zero technologies listed in CISAF Annex II. The scheme funds direct grants, open Spain-wide and available until 31 December 2028, for investments producing batteries, solar panels, wind turbines, heat pumps, electrolysers, carbon capture/storage/utilisation equipment, and the critical raw materials used to make these components. It is a distinct, larger sister scheme to Spain's EUR 408 million SA.119880 CISAF Section 5 scheme (approved five weeks later), which instead funds decarbonisation of existing industrial processes rather than new clean-tech production capacity.

The European Investment Bank signed a EUR 100 million (SEK 1.1 billion) loan agreement with Holmen, a Swedish forest-industry group, to finance the expansion of the company's onshore wind generation capacity in northern Sweden's electricity price regions. The financing, signed 30 October 2025 and announced via EIB press release on 3 November 2025, supports the European Commission's RePowerEU initiative and is intended to strengthen energy-intensive industry supply and Europe's clean-power resilience. Global Trade Alert logged the loan as a state-loan intervention on 30 October 2025.

The European Investment Bank signed a EUR 500 million (USD 576.75 million) green loan with Iberdrola on 3 November 2025 to finance the Windanker offshore wind farm, a 315 MW project under construction in the German Baltic Sea using 21 Siemens Gamesa SG 14-236 DD turbines. The financing is guaranteed by Spain's export credit agency Cesce under the inaugural use of a joint EIB-Cesce guarantee instrument supporting green projects led by Spanish companies outside Spain. Global Trade Alert logs the loan as a "red" state-loan intervention on the grounds that below-market EIB financing to a named commercial developer, backed by a national export credit agency, is a trade- and competition-distorting subsidy.

Brazil's Foreign Trade Chamber executive committee (GECEX) issued Resolution No. 812 on 28 October 2025, published in the Diário Oficial da União on 30 October 2025, amending the Mercosur Common Nomenclature (NCM) and its corresponding Common External Tariff (TEC) to align with Mercosur Common Market Group Resolutions 17/25, 18/25 and 19/25, and amending the earlier GECEX Resolution No. 272/2021. The update reclassifies and adjusts duties across a range of tariff lines — including raising duty on some helmet and protective-headgear categories while lowering it on others — with a plastics products line flagged among affected sectors. It takes effect 1 February 2026, alongside Brazil's broader routine cadence of GECEX tariff-schedule maintenance resolutions (Nos. 810, 811, 815, 816 in the same window).

MOFCOM Announcement No. 69 of 2025 (商务部公告2025年第69号), issued 29 October 2025 by the Ministry of Commerce's Foreign Trade Division, sets China's total 2026-calendar-year export quotas for seven quota-managed goods: licorice and licorice products (5.2 million kg), artificially cultivated medicinal ephedra (1.0289 million kg), sawn timber (150,000 cubic metres), cattail and cattail products (16 million kg), and — specifically for the Hong Kong and Macao markets — live pigs (160.54 million head), live cattle (22,000 head) and live chickens for Hong Kong (3 million birds). Export traders apply to MOFCOM (via provincial commerce departments) for quota certificates, which are then presented to customs for export permits; licorice and cattail quotas are allocated by competitive bidding, the rest by application. The application window ran 1-15 November 2025, with MOFCOM allocating quotas to qualified applicants by 15 December 2025.

India's CBIC, via Notification No. 46/2025-Customs dated 29 October 2025 (issued under Section 25(1) of the Customs Act 1962 and Section 124 of the Finance Act 2021), reinstated a combined 30% import duty on yellow peas (Tariff item 0713 10 10) — 10% Basic Customs Duty plus 20% Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) — ending the duty-free import window that had been in place since December 2023. The new rates apply to consignments with a Bill of Lading issued on or after 1 November 2025. A companion Notification No. 47/2025-Customs (same date) grandfathers the prior nil-duty treatment for shipments with a Bill of Lading issued on or before 31 October 2025. The measure is aimed at containing pulse imports to support domestic prices and pulse growers ahead of India's rabi (winter pulse) harvest.

The European Commission approved, under EU State aid rules, an Estonian strategic reserve scheme worth EUR 750 million (USD 872 million) to safeguard security of electricity supply in emergency situations. The reserve remunerates generation, demand-side-response and storage capacity held outside the normal market and dispatched only when demand exceeds available supply, such as periods of low wind/solar output coinciding with peak consumption. Capacity will be selected through a competitive, technology-neutral, non-discriminatory bidding process, and the scheme will run until 31 December 2035.

On 23 October 2025, the Council of the European Union adopted the 19th package of restrictive measures against Russia, anchored by Council Regulation (EU) 2025/2033 amending Regulation 833/2014 (sectoral sanctions), Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2035 amending Regulation 269/2014 (asset-freeze listings — 22 individuals + 42 entities, total 69 listings), and Council Regulation (EU) 2025/2041 (parallel Belarus measures). The package closes the Russian-LNG import loophole left open by the 18th package and establishes the architectural template for crypto-asset sanctions. Headline measures: (i) full prohibition on imports of Russian-origin LNG into the EU — short-term contracts banned six months from entry into force (effective 25 April 2026), long-term contracts (> 1 year, executed before 17 June 2025) phased out by 1 January 2027; (ii) full transaction ban on Rosneft and Gazprom Neft (tightening prior partial measures); (iii) five additional Russian banks added to Annex XIV transaction ban (Alfa-Bank, MTS Bank among them; effective 12 November 2025); (iv) full transaction bans on the Mir card payment system and the Faster Payments System (SBP), effective 25 January 2026; (v) first-ever EU sanctions on a stablecoin — the rouble-backed A7A5 (issuer + developer designated) — and a Paraguay-based cryptocurrency exchange used as a circumvention rail; (vi) prohibition on EU operators contracting with 11 listed Russian Special Economic Zones (Annex LII), with mandatory divestment from Alabuga (Tatarstan) and Technopolis Moscow effective 25 January 2026 — no five-year wind-down available; (vii) 45 entities added to Annex IV military end-user list (28 Russian + 17 third-country: 12 Chinese/Hong Kong, 3 Indian, 2 Thai); (viii) new export restrictions on electronic components, microelectronics, acyclic hydrocarbons, pneumatic rubber tires and propellant chemicals (~EUR 155 m of EU 2024 exports); (ix) prohibition on supply of AI, HPC, and quantum-computing services to Russian persons (effective 25 November 2025); (x) tourism-services ban (1 January 2026 wind-down); (xi) 117 additional shadow-fleet vessels listed (cumulative 557, exceeding the 18th package's 444); (xii) four Belarus + Kazakhstan banks listed for SPFS use (effective 2 December 2025); (xiii) binding ownership/control definitions added to Reg. 269/2014 (50 % proprietary-rights threshold + eight-criterion control test). Entry into force on 24 October 2025 (day following publication in OJ L_202502033), except for measures with explicit deferred application dates.

The European Investment Bank led a EUR 318 million non-recourse project-financing package for AB Ignitis Grupė, signed 22 October 2025, to fund the design, construction and operation of the 314 MW Kelmė onshore wind farm in western Lithuania. The EIB provided EUR 100 million of the package, alongside EUR 98.5 million from Swedbank, EUR 79.5 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and EUR 40 million from the Nordic Investment Bank, against a total project cost of approximately EUR 550 million. The plant, comprising 44 Nordex N163/6.X turbines, became operational in June 2025 and is the largest wind farm in the Baltic states, supplying power equivalent to roughly 250,000 Lithuanian households.

On October 22, 2025, the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added Open Joint Stock Company Rosneft Oil Company ("Rosneft") and Lukoil OAO ("Lukoil") — together with dozens of named Russia-based subsidiaries — to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List under Executive Order 14024 for "operating or having operated in the energy sector of the Russian Federation economy." It is the first US designation of Russia's two largest integrated oil majors since the 2022 invasion-era sanctions architecture began. Under OFAC's 50% Rule, the blocking extends automatically to all entities owned 50% or more, directly or indirectly, by Rosneft or Lukoil — capturing a sprawling global subsidiary network including Lukoil retail/refining assets in Belgium, Netherlands, Bulgaria, Romania, Italy, Finland, the West Qurna-2 upstream stake in Iraq, and Lukoil Americas. Rosneft and Lukoil together account for roughly half of Russian crude exports (~5 mb/d combined production) and Lukoil holds a ~9% European retail-fuel market share. OFAC simultaneously issued General License 124 (Caspian Pipeline Consortium / Tengizchevroil / Karachaganak Kazakhstan-pipeline carve-out, no expiry), General License 125 (Lukoil retail service stations outside Russia, wind-down to November 21, 2025), General License 126 (general wind-down to November 21, 2025) and General License 127 (debt/equity divestment and derivatives wind-down to November 21, 2025). GL 131 (issued November 14, 2025) opened a divestment window for Lukoil International GmbH; subsequent GL 134/134A/134B extended cargo-offload authorisations through April–May 2026. The action was coordinated same-day with UK OFSI Rosneft/Lukoil designations and the EU's 19th Russia sanctions package adopted October 23, 2025 — the first major US-led Russia-energy escalation under the second Trump administration.

The Government of Canada and the Province of Manitoba jointly launched the Climate and Economy Solutions Program (CESP), providing up to CAD 23 million (~USD 16.4 million) in grants for cost- and emissions-reducing energy projects in the province. The program is funded primarily through Canada's Low Carbon Economy Fund (Recapitalized Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund), topped up with roughly CAD 4.5 million from the provincial government, and is administered by Manitoba Environment and Climate Change. Eligible grant recipients include municipalities, Northern Affairs communities, Indigenous communities, multi-unit residential building operators, and businesses/not-for-profits partnering with those entities, for stationary-equipment retrofit and efficiency projects, industrial/commercial vehicle retrofits, self-generated renewable energy and fuel-production projects, and EV-charger installations. The initial application window closed December 1, 2025.

China's Ministry of Finance, General Administration of Customs and State Taxation Administration jointly issued Announcement 2025 No. 10, restructuring VAT refund support across the power-generation sector effective 1 November 2025. Offshore wind power producers gain a new 50% immediate VAT refund running through 31 December 2027, while the prior immediate-refund policy for onshore wind power (in force since 2015 under Cai Shui [2015] No. 74) is repealed outright. Nuclear plants approved but not yet commercially operating as of 31 October 2025 receive a 50% collected-then-refunded VAT rebate for ten years from first commercial operation, but nuclear projects approved after 1 November 2025 receive no VAT refund at all. The measure reallocates state fiscal support within China's power sector toward offshore wind and legacy-pipeline nuclear capacity while withdrawing it from onshore wind and future nuclear approvals.

NIB, the multilateral development bank owned by the eight Nordic and Baltic member states, signed a EUR 28 million (USD 32.4 million), 16-year loan with Ltd. WPR2 to finance "Project Simpson," a 112 MW greenfield wind farm in Smiltene, northeastern Latvia, expected to generate approximately 283 GWh (P90) annually. The loan qualifies under the InvestEU Clean Energy Transition Framework and is co-financed alongside the EBRD and Luminor Bank. NIB financing at preferential development-bank rates functions as a below-market state-adjacent subsidy supporting Latvia's under-developed wind sector, which totaled only 136 MW of installed capacity at year-end 2024.

The Saudi Council of Ministers adopted Resolution No. 269 on 11 October 2025, amending the Precious Metals and Gemstones Law to transfer all supervision, regulation, and licensing of precious-metals and gemstones manufacturing activities from the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) to the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources (MIM). The Ministry of Commerce retains authority over retail trade outlets and consumer-facing commercial activities. A six-month transition window — announced jointly by MoC and MIM on 16 October 2025 — requires all existing manufacturing practitioners to obtain an industrial licence through the "Sanai" platform; mandatory hallmarking, gemstone identification tagging, and consumer-documentation standards also take effect under the revised regulatory framework.

Queensland's Crisafulli Government announced an AUD 200 million North West Energy Fund on 10 October 2025 as part of its five-year Energy Roadmap and the wider CopperString transmission project (AUD 2.4bn budgeted, following identified savings of AUD 2.1bn against the prior government's cost blowout). The Fund is delivered by Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) and finances local generation, storage, gas, wind and solar projects in the North West Minerals Province -- Mount Isa, Cloncurry, Julia Creek and Richmond -- ahead of CopperString's Western Link. Market sounding with more than 20 organisations began in March 2026, and the Fund formally opened to investor proposals on 1 June 2026, with a requirement that supported projects reach commercial operation or deliver benefits by 2030.

India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT Notification No. 40/2025-26, dated 10 October 2025) made pre-import registration mandatory, effective 1 November 2025, for a defined list of solar and wind energy components under the Renewable Energy Equipment Import Monitoring System (REEIMS), run by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. Covered items include toughened safety glass and photovoltaic cells/modules (solar) and towers, bearing housings, gearboxes and wind-powered generating sets (wind), identified by specific HS codes. Import policy for these items remains "Free" — registration is an administrative monitoring/traceability layer, not a quota, licence-refusal power, or duty, but it creates a lead-time and port-specific compliance gate on renewable-hardware imports.

China's Ministry of Commerce on 9 October 2025 issued Announcements No. 61 and No. 62, jointly constituting the largest single architectural escalation of PRC export controls to date. No. 61 expands the controlled rare-earth list from 7 to 12 of 17 elements (adding holmium, erbium, thulium, europium, ytterbium) and — for the first time — imposes extraterritorial application via a 0.1% de-minimis rule, a foreign-direct-product (FDP) rule, and a 50%-affiliate rule, directly mirroring US BIS architecture. No. 62 places rare-earth extraction, smelting, separation, magnet manufacturing, and recycling technologies (including IP licensing, investment, and provision to foreign persons) under export licensing. PRC-direct exports were controlled from publication; the de-minimis and FDP offshore-items provisions were due to take effect 1 December 2025. On 7 November 2025 MOFCOM Announcement No. 70 suspended both measures until 10 November 2026 as part of the post-APEC Trump-Xi tariff detente — see amendments block.

The European Investment Bank signed a EUR 200 million loan with Dolomiti Energia Holding SpA on 6 October 2025 to finance the group's 2030 investment programme. 55% of the funding backs new onshore wind farms in Campania and Puglia (121 MW combined capacity), and 45% finances renovation and development of the power grid in the Autonomous Province of Trento, including new high-voltage lines and substations. 70.5% of the facility is backed by an InvestEU guarantee, and the project is expected to create approximately 500 jobs during implementation.

On 1 October 2025, Canada Growth Fund Inc. (CGF), a CAD 15 billion federal Crown corporation, committed CAD 30 million as part of a growth investment in Cascadia Windows & Doors, a British Columbia-based manufacturer of high-performance fiberglass windows and doors, led by private-equity firm MKB Equity Partners with additional participation from Blue Earth Capital. Per CGF's own FY2025 annual report, the commitment totals CAD 31 million including CAD 1 million in partnership fees and expenses, of which CAD 19.1 million was deployed during Fiscal 2025. CGF states the capital will fund expansion of Cascadia's manufacturing capacity and North American market footprint, accelerating deployment of fiberglass window systems that support buildings-sector decarbonization (Cascadia's products claim up to 250% improved thermal performance versus aluminum frames and ~58% recycled content).

The European Investment Bank signed a EUR 400 million (USD 469 million) intermediated framework loan with Norddeutsche Landesbank (NordLB) on 30 September 2025, under the "NordLB Renewable Energy 2" operation. NordLB on-lends the EIB funds at long-term, below-market financing conditions to eligible renewable-energy projects — mainly photovoltaic, onshore wind and battery storage — located predominantly in Germany and other EU countries, with the intermediated structure designed to extend financing to smaller projects that would not otherwise access direct EIB funding. Global Trade Alert separately logs the transaction as a "red"-flagged state-loan intervention.

Loi n° 2025-16 du 27 septembre 2025 portant Code des Investissements, published in Journal Officiel du Sénégal n° 7853 du 2 octobre 2025, is the first major horizontal recodification of Senegal's investment framework in 21 years, fully repealing and replacing the Loi n° 2004-06 du 6 février 2004 portant Code des Investissements. Enacted under the Faye-Sonko administration as part of the September 2025 modernisation package (companion to the parallel General Tax Code recodification), the law introduces a digital single-window with a 10-business-day processing guarantee, territorial fiscal and customs stability regimes differentiated by region (3 years for Dakar/Thiès, 5 years for other regions), expanded eligible-sector coverage, and statutory local-content integration mandates to strengthen SME participation. Existing investor protections — national treatment, free capital transfer, and nationalisation/expropriation guarantees — are maintained and modernised. The law structurally aligns the investment framework with Vision Sénégal 2050 sustainable-development requirements.

Brazil's Foreign Trade Chamber executive committee (GECEX) issued Resolution No. 795 on 25 September 2025, published in the Diário Oficial da União on 26 September 2025, amending the "Lista de Autopeças Não Produzidas" (List of Non-Produced Auto Parts) under the Regime de Autopeças Não Produzidas established by Resolução Gecex nº 284/2021. The resolution removes two tariff-line exemptions (NCM 8501.53.10 Ex 017 and NCM 8507.60.00 Ex 042) and adds 78 new Ex-Tarifário lines covering hybrid/EV electric motors, lithium-ion battery-system components, ARLA32 supply systems, suspension and steering parts, transmission/differential components, electronic control units (ECUs), and body/structural panels — items for which Brazil certifies no equivalent domestic production exists, qualifying them for reduced import-duty treatment. Effective seven days after publication (3 October 2025), the newly added lines carry a defined two-year validity window through 30 September 2027 — the first time GECEX has attached a sunset date to auto-parts Ex-Tarifário grants, a procedural tightening relative to the open-ended grants issued under prior resolutions in this series.

The European Commission's Horizon Europe programme is co-funding "ATLANTIC" (Advancing Technological Leap in the Area of floating offshore wind turbines Needed for a Transition to Innovative Clusters of green energy), a HORIZON-CL5-2024-D3-02 Innovation Action coordinated by VALOREM SAS (France) with a 13-entity, 6-country consortium. Total EU contribution is EUR 14,999,582.38 against a total project cost of EUR 20,131,184.75, running 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2029. Brest-based SME Eolink is the largest individual beneficiary, receiving EUR 9,599,415 in net EU contribution (EUR 13,713,450 total eligible cost) as the primary technology developer of the 5 MW pyramidal floating wind unit to be demonstrated at the SEM-REV test site off Le Croisic, France. Global Trade Alert logs the grant as a "red" state-act intervention (financial grant) on competitive-distortion grounds.