I'm hearing from a lot of businesses and other organisations with an interest in future UK trade policy that they're struggling to keep up with developments. Understandable, but this is the new reality, which is going to need more effort and likely more people...
Trade policy is time consuming without obvious immediate reward. But without developing serious expertise organisations will struggle to fully appreciate how tariffs, regulations, disputes, anti-dumping, rules, FTAs etc support their goals. I think many organisations are behind.
Some support is available for trade policy. Trade twitter, training from the likes of @DmitryOpines (and others), helpful websites, @Trade__Talks and other podcasts. But ultimately it requires a decision to invest.
It has taken a while but the UK government is starting to consult more effectively on future trade policy. The tariff consultation is a good example. It will only work if organisations can respond. Time for business, pressure groups etc to respond. /end
This is a fair point on SMEs. I'd hope that government can pay particular attention to SMEs in consultation given limited resources, that isn't yet happening but no reason not to push for it.
