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Tai says WTO waiver proposal on COVID vax is temporary

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai says the proposed World Trade Organization waiver on intellectual property rights as they pertain to COVID vaccines is temporary.

At a finance committee hearing, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa raised concerns that it would affect U.S. competitiveness. Tai says it is less about stealing technology and more about the impact of U.S. trade policy on regular people.

“There is nothing more directly impactful on the hope of regular people to be able to resume their lives, to become active members of their economies, than their ability to get a vaccine.”

Tai says it’s about how, in her words, “we get through this moment in our global economic history so that there will be still a world and people here to innovate and to enjoy those innovations.”

Grassley said he was concerned about limiting the forced transfer of these advanced technologies to just COVID.