S. 5265
USTRx Act
Sponsor: Tim Sheehy
2 cosponsors
Official summary
Written by the Congressional Research Service.
Use Sovereignty To reduce Rx Act or the USTRx Act
This bill establishes the role of Chief Pharmaceutical Trade Negotiator within the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). The negotiator must conduct trade negotiations, enforce trade agreements relating to U.S. pharmaceutical products, and address acts, policies, or practices of high-income countries that adversely impact the market access of U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturers.
The USTR must annually compile a list of high-income countries based on official statistics of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development of the World Bank. Based on that list, the negotiator must submit a report describing (1) such countries' actions and impacts relating to the pharmaceutical trade, and (2) the current status of any responsive actions taken by the United States.
The bill also requires the USTR to submit to Congress a plan to respond to certain adverse acts, policies, or practices of high-income countries that are related to the trade of pharmaceutical products.
Text of the bill
(a) List of high income countries. The United States Trade Representative shall compile and annually update a list of each foreign country that is defined as high income by the official statistics of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development of the World Bank.
(b) Report required. With respect to each country included on the most recent list required under subsection (a), the United States Trade Representative, acting through the Chief Pharmaceutical Trade Negotiator (as established pursuant to the amendments made by section 3), shall annually submit to the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate and concurrently publish on a publicly available website of the United States Trade Representative a report that—
(1) describes in detail the results of a review of the acts, policies, and practices of such country relating to the trade in pharmaceutical products in the previous fiscal year;
(2) determines whether such acts, policies, or practices—
(A) are not developed and implemented in a fair, nondiscriminatory, and transparent manner;
(B) are not market-based or do not appropriately recognize the value of innovative medicines;
(C) deny reciprocal market access for United States products;
(D) diminish incentives for innovation in a manner that delays, prevents, or otherwise adversely impacts the introduction of new medicines in the United States;
(E) violate or are inconsistent with the provisions of, or otherwise deny benefits to the United States under, any bilateral or multilateral trade agreement with such country; and
(F) are unjustifiable or impose a significant burden or unreasonable or discriminatory restriction on United States commerce with such country; and
(3) describes the current status of any responsive actions taken by the United States with respect to acts, policies, or practices for which the United States Trade Representative has determined and included in any prior report, pursuant to paragraph (2), that the interests of the United States are harmed, including responsive actions pursuant to title III of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2411 et seq.).