Trump’s deal with Argentina marks a new low in Big Pharma-friendly trade
When Trump announced his infamous “reciprocal tariffs” in early April 2025, he waved around a report that he claimed contained other countries’ “non-tariff barriers” against the U.S. Those “non-tariff barriers” were actually laws and policies that U.S. corporations don’t like — even those that benefit the public interest such as laws that promote affordable medicines. When the more detailed annual “watch list” related to intellectual property laws, the Special 301 Report, was released later that month, Public Citizen raised alarm that this annual Big Pharma hit list of other countries’ policies could serve as a road map to Big Pharma giveaways in Trump’s secretive “reciprocal tariff” negotiations.
The recently signed Agreement on Reciprocal Trade and Investment between the U.S. and Argentina unfortunately did just that. The U.S.-Argentina deal required Argentina to make concessions explicitly listed in the Special 301 Report — representing a new low in using U.S. trade policy to bully countries into adopting intellectual property rules that expand Big Pharma’s monopoly power at the expense of access to affordable medicines.
Elevation of Big Pharma’s Special 301 Complaints
While internationally agreed trade rules at the World Trade Organization inappropriately privilege intellectual property rights, those agreements at least recognize the need to balance intellectual property rights with efforts to ensure affordable access to medicines and support the public interest.
The Special 301 report, however, has a long history of undermining these public interest considerations in favor of maximalist intellectual property provisions that expand monopoly power. Experts have questioned the legitimacy of the Special 301 process, suggesting that the Special 301 report’s practice of failing to justify its criticisms and threatening unilateral sanctions for practices which comply with the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) violates administrative justice norms and international rules.
Now, with the U.S.-Argentina agreement, the Trump administration has taken this bullying a step further through binding measures based on questionable Special 301 complaints, further extending inappropriate corporate influence over U.S. trade policy.
This is the first time a U.S. trade agreement explicitly mentions the 301 report and requires a country to address a litany of the Big Pharma complaints raised within.
The new agreement requires Argentina to “expeditiously take steps to fully resolve the issues identified with respect to Argentina in the most recent Special 301 Report.” The agreement includes a variety of intellectual property-related concessions, including:
- Patenting guidelines — Argentina is required to take steps to repeal its domestic regulations related to patenting standards (Joint Resolutions No. 118/2012, No. 546/2012, No. 107/2012, and No. 283/2015).
Patenting guidelines prevent the granting of poor–quality patents (such as those claiming small variations on old medicines, like extended– release versions, that companies can use to “evergreen” patents) by advising patent examiners on how to assess the patentability requirements of applications.
Argentina’s 2012 and 2015 resolutions guide the assessment of applications for pharmaceutical and biotechnological inventions. These guidelines do not modify or limit patentability criteria but aim to ensure the correct application of those standards. By repealing these guidelines, pharma corporations are more likely to be granted patents based on overly broad or non-innovative products or processes, which will further extend their monopolies and restrict access to affordable medicines.
- Data exclusivity — Argentina is required to prepare a report “analyzing the feasibility, scope, and institutional requirements for implementing a data protection regime that is consistent with Articles 20.45 and 20.48 of the United States – Mexico – Canada Agreement [USMCA].”
All countries party to the TRIPS Agreement are required to protect undisclosed data from unfair commercial use. Argentina provides such protection. The U.S. pursuit of data exclusivity goes beyond protection of data to provide an additional layer of monopoly separate from patents. The USMCA requires five years of data exclusivity, during which time generic manufacturers and regulatory authorities are prevented from using an originator company’s data to grant marketing approval for a generic drug.
- Patent extensions — Argentina is required to prepare “a report analyzing the causes of delays in the patent granting process, identifying those attributable to administrative factors, and evaluating the legal feasibility of patent term extensions for unreasonable patent delays” and to take steps to “significantly reduc[e] patent pendency, including for biotechnological and pharmaceutical inventions.”
Patent term extensions grant corporations additional years of monopoly beyond the standard 20-year term. While patent term extensions are allocated ostensibly for “delays,” variance in review periods is a normal part of each system and is not indicative of insufficient protection of intellectual property. Extending patent terms delays access to generic medications and keeps prices high.
- Enforcement — Argentina is required to establish a “coordination body for IP enforcement” and explore “having a specialized federal IP prosecutor office.”
Corporations enjoy ample avenues to pursue enforcement of their intellectual property. Expansive enforcement measures further tilt the balance of power toward industry interests, such as by providing more generous infringement remedies and broadened avenues for industry influence. These types of measures risk chilling legitimate policy actions aimed at facilitating access to medicines.
A Worrying Template
The U.S.-Argentina deal reveals the lie behind Trump’s claim that he is standing up to Big Pharma and bringing drug prices down. While he distracts the U.S. public from real action to lower prices with his vanity TrumpRx website, that actually threatens to raise drug costs for some of its users rather than lower them, he’s using secretive trade negotiations to do Big Pharma’s dirty work to expand their monopoly power globally.
