Trump Administration announces details of possible trade deal with Mexico

USTR has provided some details of the new trade agreement with Mexico, here. As usual, the agreement seems to favor drug companies and holders of copyrights, although few of the details are known. Among the specifics revealed are a proposed extension of copyright to what appears to be life+ 75 years, shorter than the Mexico term but longer that the current US term, and a minimum 10 years for protection of test data for biologic drugs, longer than the term in the TPP.

The USTR press release has extensive details on digital trade issues. Among the several issues that concern KEI is the agreement to “Limit governments’ ability to require disclosure of proprietary computer source code and algorithms, to better protect the competitiveness of digital suppliers.” Given the state of security concerns and the lack of a coherent response to the challenges of software related monopolies, it seems unwise to lock governments into policies prevent mandates to make certain code open.