Smith Leads Bill to Hold Biden Administration Accountable for IP Giveaway

Washington, D.C. – Today, Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE) spoke at the Ways and Means Committee markup in support of his legislation to hold the Biden administration accountable for handing over American innovation to China under the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement announced in July. This legislation comes as the Biden Administration and WTO member countries are discussing whether to expand the waiver even further to include therapeutics and diagnostics ahead of a December deadline.

Below are Smith’s remarks as prepared for delivery. Watch them here.

Thank you, Chairman Neal and Ranking Member Brady.

This resolution requests the president send certain information to the House relating to a waiver of intellectual property commitments under the WTO TRIPS Agreement. 

Specifically, the resolution requests information demonstrating:

• the TRIPS waiver will increase global supply of COVID vaccines;
• the extent to which COVID vaccines have been destroyed due to their expiration;
• the proposed TRIPS waiver expansion to cover diagnostics and therapeutics will increase supply; and
• whether the People’s Republic of China will obtain access to IP related to COVID vaccines, diagnostics, or therapeutics, even if China is expressly excluded.

Colleagues on both sides of the aisle should agree the scope of this request is narrowly tailored.

Regardless of individual member views on the TRIPS Waiver, this resolution deserves bipartisan support so this committee can analyze the efficacy of the waiver and whether or not it should be expanded to include diagnostics and therapeutics. 

I’ll also add there is bipartisan agreement consultations with Congress on the TRIPS waiver by the Biden Administration were seriously lacking. Amazingly, the administration never actually shared its views with Congress until it had already agreed to the waiver at the WTO.

Now we find ourselves in the exact same position once again with respect to therapeutics and diagnostics, despite the president’s own admission the pandemic is over.

Still, the TRIPS waiver includes a 6-month period for WTO members to “decide on its extension to cover the production and supply of COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics.” 

We are already halfway through this 6-month period, yet the administration has not yet consulted with this committee or taken a position on an expanded waiver, nor have they shared any analysis on the impact of expanding the waiver. 

We cannot, once again, learn about the administration’s position on an IP waiver after a final agreement. If we are serious about Congress’ primary jurisdiction over international trade, we must insist Congress remain in the driver’s seat.

I urge all my colleagues to report this resolution favorably. Thank you.

The TRIPS agreement was announced during the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference held in June 2022 (MC12). It was also announced that there would be another meeting December 2022 to determine whether to expand this waiver to include therapeutics and diagnostics. Following the announcement, Smith released a statement reiterating his strong opposition to the waiver, highlighting the devastating impact it could have on future innovation.

In May, Smith led a multi-member letter to Ambassador Katherine Tai sharing concerns about the administration's lack of collaboration with Congress on trade matters. Read the letter here.

In April, Smith introduced the Protecting American Innovation Act. The Protecting American Innovation Act would make any TRIPS waiver, as well as any modifications to existing trade agreements, subject to congressional approval. Read more here.

Smith introduced the privileged resolution in July 2022. Read it here.