A group of organisations have banded together to warn that thousands of jobs could be lost after the UK leaves the EU unless action is taken to prevent dumped products flooding into this country.
With responsibility for so-called trade remedies shifting from the European Commission to the British Government, a post-Brexit UK could be left defenceless against unfair competition from abroad.
The group of 10 organisations (including UK Steel, British Glass and two trade unions, GMB and Unite) is attempting to persuade the political parties to address the issue in their election manifestos.
A position paper published by the seven manufacturing trade associations and three trade unions sets out the actions needed to establish a trade defence mechanism for the UK.
It calls for a Bill in the first Queen’s Speech to adopt all of the trade remedies allowed by the World Trade Organization (WTO): anti-dumping measures, anti-subsidy measures and safeguarding measures.
The new Government should, the paper argues, ensure that new UK trade remedies are adequate to fully alleviate market injury to UK manufacturing and that they are available immediately after Brexit.
It sets out a number of steps that the organisations believe would help ensure the effectiveness of a new trade remedies system, including having a well-resourced single unit within the Department for International Trade (DIT) to investigate trade complaints.
Separate teams within the unit should deal with different aspects of cases concurrently and quickly.
Speaking for the British Ceramic Confederation, Dr Laura Cohen explained that, after years of contraction partly due to dumped imports from China, EU measures have helped the sector to stabilise, invest and employ more people.
“We need a UK system that can tackle the unfair distortions that disrupt real free trade,” she said.
The Future of UK Trade Remedies is available here.
