US adds eight countries to its IP "priority watch" list

The US administration's Special 301 report on countries that are not enforcing intellectual property (IP) rights was always going to be interesting in this first year of the second Trump term with a global trade war in full swing.

This year's edition (PDF) opens with a statement of intent to use all possible sources of leverage to encourage other countries to open their markets to US exports of goods and services, and it's no surprise that some of the targets of President Trump's tariffs find themselves in the firing line.

Top of the list is a decision to move Mexico, which moves from the watch list to the priority watch list due to what the US Trade Representative (USTR) said was "long-standing and significant IP concerns that have not been resolved, many of which relate to Mexico’s implementation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

Mexico and the US's other neighbour Canada faced the threat of a 25% tariff before Trump backtracked and kept them at the background rate of 10%.

Canada finds itself on the watch list, while the EU – which has been subject to vitriol from the Trump administration over trade – is name-checked for "aggressive promotion of its exclusionary geographical indications."

On Mexico, the report points to "concerns regarding enforcement against trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy, protection of pharmaceutical-related IP, pre-established damages for copyright infringement and trademark counterfeiting, and plant variety protection."

It is joined on the priority watch list by China, India, Russia, Indonesia, Argentina, Chile and Venezuela, while Turkmenistan – which has been enjoying closer relations with Trump than with any previous US President – has been taken off the watch list because "stakeholders have not raised significant concerns about IP protection or enforcement during the Special 301 review over the last several years."

The watch list encompasses Algeria, Barbados, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Türkiye, and Vietnam.

Pharma in focus

The report also highlights the IP situation with pharmaceuticals, which could be facing a sector-specific tariff after the Trump administration launched a Section 232 (national security) investigation earlier this month.

"With respect to pharmaceuticals and medical devices, concerns remain with a number of trading partners on a range of IP protection and enforcement and market access issues," according to the report.

Trump has been vocal in his desire to make the US less reliant on imported medicines and pharmaceutical raw materials, and to force drugmakers to relocate manufacturing to the US.

Among the pharma-specific measures mentioned in the new document is a crackdown on compulsory licensing – the breaking of patent protection to provide cut-price essential medicines – in countries like Colombia, restrictive patentability in Argentina and India, and price cuts and reimbursement barriers in Japan and Korea.