Final answer:
The Continental Association created by the First Continental Congress established the mechanism for suspending trade with British merchants in response to British trade restrictions and taxes.
Step-by-step explanation:
The mechanism that established a way for suspending trade with British merchants was the Continental Association, which was created by the First Continental Congress. This response to British policies was designed to administer boycott actions against Britain, including a widespread refusal to import British goods in retaliation for the taxes and restrictions imposed on the colonies. One of the significant actions leading up to the American Revolution, the trade suspension was just one of many colonial reactions against British legislation, such as the Navigation Acts and various other restrictive laws, designed to control colonial trade and bolster the British economy at the expense of colonial interests. These actions by Parliament, along with the enforcement of economic policies through vice-admiralty courts, aided in the growth of revolutionary sentiment that would eventually fuel the separation of the thirteen colonies from British rule.