US Keeps China, Russia on Top of Intellectual Property ‘Watch List’ - Trade Office

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - China, Russia, and India remain on top of Washington's list of countries that allegedly must be monitored for intellectual property protection issues, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) revealed in an annual report.

The US named 27 trading partners as having IP protection issues and put on a "priority watch list," seven of them including Argentina, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Russia, and Venezuela. The report, however, heavily focused on China, which was mentioned over 100 times in the 88-page document.

"China remains on the Priority Watch List in 2022," the report, released on Wednesday, said. "China must provide a level playing field for IP protection and enforcement, refrain from requiring or pressuring technology transfer to Chinese companies at all levels of government, open China’s market to foreign investment, and embrace open and market-oriented policies."

According to the "Phase One" trade agreement the US and China signed in 2020, the report added, Beijing made commitments to address numerous long-standing concerns in the areas of trade secrets, patents, pharmaceutical-related IP, trademarks, copyrights, geographical indications, and technology transfer.

In the eyes of the Biden administration, the report added, "it remains to be seen" whether commitments made by Beijing related to these concerns will improve the protection of intellectual property.