US closes out-of-cycle review of India's trade and patent policies

The United States Trade Representative has announced closure of the out-of-cycle review of India’s trade and intellectual property rights practices, noting the progress made in recent months.

The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has announced closure of the out-of-cycle review of India’s trade and intellectual property rights practices, noting the progress made in recent months.

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“India has made useful commitments in recent months, including to institutionalize high-level engagement on IP issues, to pursue a specific work program and to deepen cooperation and information exchange with the United States on IP-related issues under the US-India Trade Policy Forum,” said the USTR in a statement.

Urging India to further “strengthen” and “deepen” bilateral engagement on these issues, the USTR closed the review that was not expected to lead to any harsh pronouncements and measures in view of recent improvement in trade ties between the two countries.

USTR had announced an out-of-cycle review in April, which is when the annual Special 301 is announced on the state of US trade ties with nations across the world, as a new government was expected to take charge in Delhi, and the US didn’t want to to get off to a tense start with it.

American business and trade bodies had been mounting pressure on US government and Congress to force India to change or drop trate and IPR practices they said were harmful to US businesses.