Under the proposal, India and South Africa have sought temporary relaxations for IP, patents and other such provisions laid out under the TRIPS Agreement of the WTO.
The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights waiver would allow countries, manufacturers to access & share technologies, therapeutics without trade sanctions or disputes.
Four Republican senators have argued that waiving all rights to intellectual property would end innovation and stop the development of new vaccines or boosters to address future variants of the virus.
With measures like MSP, India has been carefully treading the thin line between food and livelihood security and practices classified as 'trade distorting' under the WTO law.
India and South Africa had jointly submitted the proposal on 2 October seeking ease of intellectual property rights, patents and other provisions for Covid-related drugs.
Trump says WTO has been bad for the US, but economists generally believe that trade and its expansion post-World War 2 has produced large net benefits for the US & the world.
WTO delegates couldn’t broker a consensus agreement this week after the US demanded American Alan Wolff become interim director-general instead of Germany's Karl Brauner.
WTO’s next leader will have to focus on rebuilding trust and credibility, rebooting its negotiating agenda and restoring its paralyzed dispute-settlement system.
India’s industrial output growth saw a 10-month low in June, with Index of Industrial Production (IIP) growing by mere 1.5% as against 1.9% in May 2025.
Standing up to America is usually not a personal risk for a leader in India. Any suggestions of foreign pressure unites India behind who they see as leading them in that fight.
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