India was one of six countries, including China and Russia, released by the U.S. Trade Representative on Thursday in a special report on the adequacy and effectiveness of protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights by trading partners.
The United States’ 2026 Special 301 Report lists Vietnam as a priority foreign country, the first time in 13 years that a country has been included in this specific category.
“By law, the PFC label targets those countries whose actions, policies, and practices related to intellectual property are the most egregious and have the greatest adverse impact on U.S.-related products,” the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office said.
It said Vietnam had not engaged in good faith negotiations and had not made significant progress in negotiations to provide adequate and effective intellectual property protection.
The six countries on the priority watch list include Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Russia and Venezuela.
The placement of a trading partner on a priority watch list or watch list indicates that the country has special problems with intellectual property protection, enforcement, or market access for U.S. persons who rely on intellectual property.
19 countries including the European Union, Türkiye, and Pakistan have been included in the watch list.
“Using all the enforcement tools at our disposal to address unfair trade practices is a top priority,” said Ambassador Jamieson Greer.
“We rigorously scrutinize the intellectual property practices of our trading partners and hope to take action when necessary to protect American innovators and creators around the world,” Greer said.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative stated that the United States first engaged Vietnam in 2020 with a proposal for an intellectual property work plan to address the issues identified in the Special 301 report, and subsequently presented a revised proposal in 2023.
However, in subsequent bilateral engagements and the recent Reciprocal, Fair and Balanced Trade Agreement negotiations, Vietnam has been unable to make meaningful progress on these issues.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative stated that Vietnam’s actions or inactions are causing significant harm to the Vietnamese market and industries that rely on intellectual property rights in other markets.
Within 30 days from the date of this determination, USTR will decide whether to initiate an investigation under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 based on the reasons identified in this report as the basis for Vietnam’s determination as a PFC.
If the USTR initiates an investigation, the USTR will request consultations with Vietnam and seek to resolve the issues that led to Vietnam being designated as a PFC.
This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.
