Biden undecided on COVID-related TRIPS waiver, as Republican lawmakers oppose India's proposal at WTO
The Hindu
12 Republican lawmakers write a seven-page letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on the issue
U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he had not made a decision on whether the U.S. would support an Indian and South African initiative at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to waive Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to facilitate the production of COVID-19 related vaccines and therapeutics around the world. “Well, we’re going to decide that as we go along, I haven’t made that decision yet,” Mr. Biden said on Tuesday afternoon at the White House, after he delivered remarks on the U.S.’s vaccination campaign. His administration would move as quickly as possible to get as many doses of Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines to export to the rest of the world, Mr Biden said. The U.S. government has already ordered 100 million additional doses of these vaccines through July 31. A group of nine Democratic senators and Bernie Sanders (an independent) had called on Mr Biden last month to support a temporary IP waiver. U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai had discussed the issue with the U.S. heads of vaccine makers Pfizer and AstraZeneca last week.More Related News
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