US Trade Barriers Report Highlights IPRs Among Top Concerns

The United States Trade Representative’s annual report on barriers to US exports contains many references to intellectual property rights issues. These include latest topics of debate such as the treatment of pharmaceutical patents in India, online piracy in Russia, and European-guided geographical indications laws in Latin America. It also highlights recent commitments by China on protection of pharmaceutical patents and trade secrets.

Other countries highlighted for IP policies were Taiwan and the Philippines, which was praised for following US guidance. Viet Nam was cited for new restrictions on digital commerce.

“The United States is one of the most open economies in the world,” USTR Michael Froman said in the opening to the report. “But U.S. exports destined for other countries continue to face an array of tariff and nontariff barriers.”

“The NTE report plays an important role by shining a spotlight on significant trade barriers that our goods and services exporters face,” it said, adding that actions taken by the US government against the barriers are included in the report where possible.

A USTR fact sheet on the report is available here.

The full report, issued on 31 March, is available here [pdf].