Overview
- Ministers would gain discretion to direct the Trade Remedies Authority to open cases and set higher duties within WTO limits, with the legal changes subject to parliamentary approval.
- The government issued a strategic steer instructing the TRA to act more assertively and make participation easier for producers, including SMEs.
- The TRA launched an Import Trends Monitor and is expanding its Advisory Service to help businesses identify risks and file stronger applications.
- Officials say investigations should conclude within a year and the reforms are pitched as aligning the UK with peers such as the EU and Australia as global trade tensions rise after new U.S. tariffs.
- The TRA’s leadership and industry groups welcomed the plan, while the government says the new powers will be used only in limited circumstances and will require secondary legislation.