A number of Republican senators are urging President Joe Biden’s administration to reverse its “disastrous” decision to give U.S. COVID-19 medical technology and intellectual property to China under a controversial “Trips waiver.”

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The Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) waiver was first proposed by India and South Africa, and would suspend intellectual property protections for products and technologies needed for the fight against COVID-19, including vaccines, for the duration of the pandemic.

On May 5, U.S. Trade Representative Trade Katherine Tai released a statement on behalf of the administration which voiced support for the TRIPS waiver. . . .

Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) sent a letter to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and Representative Tai on May 20, asking them to reverse the Biden administration’s decision to support the proposal.

In the strongly-worded letter, the senators argued that the waiver would undermine the “nation’s global leadership in the technologies, medicines and treatments of the future” and “provide a boost to the Chinese Communist Party’s ‘vaccine diplomacy’ and enable Beijing to undercut American leadership on vaccine distribution throughout the developing world.”. . .

“Vaccine production is a complex technical and logistical process, with limited technical resources (e.g., skilled scientists and technicians at companies). At best, all President Biden’s giveaway to China and India and others will do is foster uncoordinated vaccine nationalism, as countries jump in to try to coerce technology transfer and manufacturing locally,” the senators wrote in their letter.

The letter was signed by 13 other Republican senators.

“It is not surprising that China, India, and South Africa want to steal our intellectual property and medical technology,” the senators continued. . . .

The senators noted that they have several “serious concerns” over the Biden administration’s support of the waiver, and demanded to know how the president had reached this conclusion.

They asked that the administration answer a string of questions by no later than June 19, 2021, including what evidence the administration relied on to conclude that intellectual property was a barrier to vaccine manufacturing and that the benefits of waiving intellectual property protections outweighed the potential costs.

The senators also want to know whether Chinese leader Xi Jinping asked the administration to grant the waiver when he spoke with Biden in March, how the waiver would be implemented, and whether private citizens would be denied their ability to protect or enforce intellectual property rights in U.S. courts. . . .

Rep. Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R-Ga.) also showed his support for the letter on Thursday, writing on Twitter that the controversial waiver was a “gift to China.” . . .

In his first speech to Congress in April, Biden touted U.S.-China relations, specifically intellectual property as of one his administration’s key issues.

The president vowed to continue to “stand up to unfair trade practices that undercut American workers and American industries, like subsidies to state-owned enterprises and the theft of American technology and intellectual property.” . . .

What do you think of Biden’s decision? Share in the comments below!

(Excerpt from The Epoch Times. Article by  KATABELLA ROBERTS. Photo Credit: The White House Flickr.)