Trade
“Arcane WTO Pact Takes Center Stage in Vaccine Equity Debate” [Bloomberg]. “n the World Trade Organization’s alphabet soup vocabulary, one particular acronym is gaining a lot of attention: TRIPs. Shorthand for the Geneva-based group’s agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual-property rights, TRIPs sets enforceable rules for the protection of trademarks, designs, inventions and other intangible goods in international trade. Today this arcane 1995 agreement has re-entered the political lexicon as a potential tool to save lives and ensure fairness in the pandemic. India and South Africa have offered a proposal that seeks a broad waiver from the TRIPs agreement’s rules on the production and export of vaccines and other critical medical goods needed to combat the Covid-19 virus. On its face, it’s a simple request. Poorer nations without the means to develop vaccines and other medical technologies should be allowed to do everything they can to treat their cit