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Call out allies, not just adversaries, for hurting American workers

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by Andrei Iancu and David Kappos, opinion contributors - 05/17/26 1:00 PM ET

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by Andrei Iancu and David Kappos, opinion contributors - 05/17/26 1:00 PM ET

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US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer (L) speaks with France’s junior Minister in charge of external trade Nicolas Forissier as they attend a meeting of the G7 countries in preparation for the summit of heads of State and government to be held in June in Evian, in Paris on May 6, 2026. (Photo by Aurelien Morissard / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

The federal government just released its Special 301 report, which calls out foreign countries that deprive American companies of billions in revenue — and prevent the creation of countless U.S. jobs — by failing to protect their intellectual property rights.

This year’s report listed the usual suspects: China, India and others. But developed democracies — including European Union members, Mexico, Canada and the United Kingdom — have also explored or enacted policies that undermine U.S. property rights.

As former directors of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, we believe it is time to call out the increasingly blatant efforts to undermine intellectual property by our allies — not just our adversaries — and urgently work with these trading partners to reform their ways.

This year’s report is a clear step in the right direction, but far more work remains. Consider how the European Union recently changed legislation to shorten the period that new drugs can remain on the market without competition from copycats, limiting American biotech firms’ ability to earn back the money they spent developing new treatments.

The EU also hasn’t completely abandoned its proposal to allow European bureaucrats to unilaterally set licensing rates for transformative technology behind global wireless communications infrastructure, including 5G, Wi-Fi and other standardized technologies.

By attempting to unilaterally set global licensing rates for these “standard essential patents,” rather than letting private companies negotiate fair rates amongst themselves, the EU would effectively dictate the terms of global trade and undercut American firms.

The government was right to recognize the EU’s increasingly hostile approach to American companies’ intellectual property rights by placing it on the report’s Watch List for the first time in two decades. The United States must continue to flag the problematic nature of the EU’s actions or other countries will use them as precedent and justification for their own policies that are hostile to U.S. intellectual property.

Our Northern and Southern neighbors are also failing us. Mexico doesn’t adequately protect clinical data that companies produce — at great cost — to validate the safety and efficacy of new drugs. And Mexico’s system for resolving patent disputes for purposes of promoting generic competition is ineffective. Its fast-track process avoids proper patent checks, allowing approval of patent-infringing products and violating commitments made under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

We must work with Mexico to ensure they provide American innovators a level playing field. Keeping it on the Priority Watch List would have helped drive that progress; unfortunately, the government downgraded it to the Watch List.

The federal government once again put Canada on the Watch List for falling short of USMCA commitments. Canada uses its Patented Medicine Prices Review Board to effectively erode the value of American-invented medicines. And its Online Streaming Act disadvantages American digital services providers. If Canada doesn’t end these abuses, it may warrant a placement on future reports’ more serious Priority Watch List.

While the United Kingdom wasn’t included in this year’s report, it deserved a spot on the Watch List. Its courts already purport to have the authority to set global licensing rates that cover U.S. and other nations’ patents. It has also proposed changes to dispute resolution for standard essential patent licensing that would enable the undervaluing of American companies’ innovations — a marked departure from peer nations’ policies on the matter. A Watch List designation could have pushed the United Kingdom to retract those harmful policies and proposals.

China remains one of the most significant violators of Americans’ intellectual property rights, which is why it’s once again on the report’s Priority Watch List.

In some ways, it has taken an even more aggressive approach to intellectual property rights in recent years by impl