The revised NAFTA agreement — now the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) — has been making progress, and Canada is now proceeding with ratification of the deal. However, a challenge standing in the way of full ratification is objections to some of the life-sciences, copyright, and other intellectual property (IP) provisions established in USMCA’s Chapter 20. As ITIF's Stephen Ezell, the Macdonald-Laurier Institute's Richard Owens, and Fundacion Idea's Alberto Saracho write in The Hill, the United States must stand up for innovation in the debate over the USMCA. It must make the case that Chapter 20 is beneficial not just for the United States, but for Canada and Mexico as well. Without U.S. leadership, American, and by extension, global life-sciences innovation could diminish, taking medical advances, economic growth, and good jobs with it.
