Senate Finance Leaders Say TRIPS Agreement a Sign USTR Failing to Consult
Senators said that officials from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative failed to consult properly before a proposal to make changes to the TRIPS Agreement regarding coronavirus vaccines was released, and that the agency's approach needs to change. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and ranking member Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, led the letter, which said: "Administrations of both parties have struggled to comply with the terms Congress has provided to ensure its views are reflected in our trade policy. Accordingly, we request that you take steps to ensure Congress is a full partner in the Administration’s ongoing trade negotiations, regardless of whether the Administration believes any eventual agreement from such negotiations will require formal Congressional approval. To that end, the Office of the United States Trade Representative... must provide Congress with timely, substantive briefings on negotiations and share all U.S. negotiating texts before the Administration commits the United States to a particular negotiating position or outcome."
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They said that the proposed changes to trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) in the World Trade Organization were released before "informing Congress of the specifics of the compromise or sharing text of the proposal."
The letter, which also was signed by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and Sens. Catherine Cortez-Masto, D-Nev., Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ben Sasse, R-Neb., continued: "We want to ensure that this failure to consult properly with Congress will not be replicated in other areas, particularly as the Administration seeks to launch new trade negotiations under the auspices of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, pursue multilateral and plurilateral negotiations at the WTO, and engage in bilateral discussions with countries such as the United Kingdom. ... The mere fact that changes to U.S. law may not be required to implement a final agreement or that ideas are being exchanged in a “white paper” does not excuse USTR from fulfilling its obligation to consult -- in detail, including by sharing any and all text and specific proposals -- in a timely fashion, throughout a negotiation."
USTR general counsel Greta Peisch responded in an emailed statement: “USTR takes our commitment to transparency and consultation with Members of Congress extremely seriously. We have routinely consulted Congress and sought input from stakeholders as the Administration works to facilitate an outcome on intellectual property at the WTO. Those efforts have increased since the Director-General released text last week and they will continue before an agreement is reached on this, or any other issue.”