Fisheries, TRIPS Waiver Hot Topics at Confirmation Hearing for USTR Officials
Nominees for the envoy to the World Trade Organization whose rank is at a deputy level in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and the first-ever deputy USTR for Innovation and Intellectual Property, avoided specifics when questioned by Senate Finance Committee members on WTO negotiations. But Maria Pagán and Chris Wilson assured the senators that they understand what their views are and that their issues are also priorities for the administration.
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Republicans, in particular, homed in on the administration's support for a TRIPS (Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) waiver at the WTO, and questioned whether that will undermine the discovery of future cures such as the COVID-19 vaccines that advocates want to be open for all to manufacture without paying licensing fees to the pharmaceutical companies that developed them.
Ranking member Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, told Wilson: “Strong intellectual property protections are critical to America’s economic prosperity. This is especially true today.
“Mr. Wilson, I want to know your priorities for the position, and how we can combat unfair practices by our global competitors like theft and forced technology transfers, and how we can protect intellectual property and private intellectual property rights. ... Additionally, the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic has been lessened thanks to innovations borne out of the partnership between the American government and American industry. It is critical that we not undermine the American people’s ability to respond to future challenges with intelligence and agility."
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., characterized the administration's support for a TRIPS waiver as giving away U.S. innovations, and therefore counter to Wilson's position. Wilson replied that the law that created his job is clear that he should advocate for U.S. innovation. "It’s useful for me to have your view on the TRIPS," he said.
In contrast, Chairman Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told Wilson that there is a tension between the need to reward innovation and the need to provide access to life-saving drugs. "We have to continue to try to get the balance right," he said. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said she was glad that the Biden administration "put people’s lives over pharma profits to support a waiver to intellectual property rules," but noted that the countries have not reached an agreement on the waiver yet.
In response to a later question from Crapo, who wanted Pagán to promise that any waiver would not allow China or Russia to use the formulas, the nominee noted: "The conversations in Geneva are ongoing, and sort of stuck." Crapo noted that neither nominee committed to a waiver that would not apply to China or Russia. He also said, "The case has not been made that there is an emergency that somehow justifies this" waiver.
Wyden asked Pagán about how the U.S. would conclude negotiations in Geneva to end government subsidies for overfishing. "We do want to have an agreement, but we want to have an agreement that is effective on cracking down on harmful fish subsidies," she said. "We want an agreement that is high-standard and meaningful."
Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., asked Pagán what approach the U.S. should take to restoring the appellate body's quorum, and what approach it should take to WTO reform. She replied that while there is consensus among WTO members that reform is needed, "We all have different views of what reform means." She said the U.S. does not want the appellate body to be a rulemaking body, though she said the administration does want binding dispute settlement. "I don’t think it’s going to be an easy conversation but I look forward to doing it," she said.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, told her that "China’s entry into the WTO has been devastating for Ohio workers." He said that China makes a mockery of the World Trade Organization, and that leads Americans to lose their faith in the WTO. Pagán replied that China needs to improve its reporting of how it intervenes in its economy; if it did so, it could help other countries challenge its practices through the WTO. "The dispute settlement system has to be reformed because it has contributed to some of the difficulties for us in confronting unfair practices," she said. The WTO appellate body has said at times that certain U.S. antidumping methodologies are counter to international trade law.