Britain's trade remedies body to get more assertive ahead of overhaul

By Alistair Smout

LONDON (Reuters) -The new chiefs of Britain's Trade Remedies Authority said it would toughen the country's trade defences even before new legislation comes in, aimed at giving the body more clout to tackle global trade turmoil.

The TRA was established post-Brexit but the government has criticised its remedies system for being "slow and unwieldy" and wants it to be changed to better protect industries against a turbulent backdrop of trade wars, including U.S. tariffs.

New legislation is in the works to adjust the TRA's policy guidance and operating framework, but its new chief executives, Jessica Blakely and Carmen Suarez, said it could already take steps to become more agile and assertive.

"There's definitely quite a lot that can be done even without the legislation," said Suarez, who started the role in a jobshare with Blakely in June, adding they did not want to rely on legislation as a "silver bullet".

TRA USING MORE TOOLS TO BE PROACTIVE

The TRA monitors trade flows and data to investigate unfair trading practices and recommend countermeasures.

Blakely, in an interview ahead of a TRA Forum event next week, said the TRA should be quicker to bring in provisional measures while investigations are ongoing, use more artificial intelligence, and utilise a new monitoring tool and engagement with firms to be proactive in dealing with emerging trends.

"(The changes) are all aiming at being more assertive... more forward-leaning and having a lot more tools available to us," Blakely said.

TRA DEFENDS ROLE AFTER STEEL REVIEW

The TRA is not involved in political tariff negotiations, such as the agreement Britain reached on some tariffs with the United States in May, but its work includes politically sensitive industries such as steel.

In June, the government chose to impose tougher protective measures for steel than the TRA proposed, after steelmakers said that the TRA's recommendations would do little to protect the industry.

Suarez said it was right that ministers took a broader array of considerations into account compared with the TRA's specific role of analysing evidence, saying it was "a symptom of a strength of the ecosystem" rather than weakness.

Details about the planned overhaul are not clear as the government has not yet introduced the legislation.

Suarez said that, while the extent of any legislative changes to the TRA would ultimately be a political decision, the government had committed to World Trade Organization rules and "lots of what is in our mandate is intrinsically linked with WTO obligations".

(Reporting by Alistair Smout. Editing by Jane Merriman)