(Adds quotes, Republican concerns about China competition)
By David Lawder
WASHINGTON, May 13 (Reuters) - U.S. Trade Representative
Katherine Tai said on Thursday that World Trade Organization
negotiations over intellectual property waivers for COVID-19
vaccines is a chance for the deeply divided trade body to make
itself relevant to the world's needs.
Tai, speaking to the House Ways and Means Committee, said
she was committed to entering negotiations that take into
account concerns from all sides, including drug companies.
"The WTO has not got a record of moving quickly, or getting
to yes, across 164 members who must all agree, very often," Tai
said. "This is the opportunity for the WTO to show its relevance
for mankind."
For a second day in a row, Tai heard criticism from
Republican lawmakers that the intellectual property rights
waiver will give critical biopharmaceutical technology to China,
Russia and other strategic rivals while failing to increase
vaccine supplies.
Republican Representative Devin Nunes told Tai that he is
concerned China is one of the few countries that could quickly
manufacture messenger RNA vaccines, a technology partly
developed with U.S. tax dollars.
"It really seems like they (China) want to steal this very
new technology, especially as it relates to the Moderna
and Pfizer vaccines."
Tai said the administration was working to exercise
leadership on the issue to try to reach a solution that saves
lives and puts the world back on a faster growth track, which
will benefit the United States.
India and South Africa, the proponents of the original, much
broader proposal are expressing "that they feel extremely
vulnerable in not having access to vaccines and not being able
to make them either," Tai said,
On Wednesday, Tai told a Senate hearing that companies
making vaccines could be "a hero" by helping the world gain
increased access to COVID-19 vaccines.
She declined to discuss details of her consultations with
drug companies before announcing the decision to join WTO waiver
negotiations last week, but said that some are driven by more
than their obligations to shareholders.
"Some of them do see themselves as important actors in the
public health ecosystem in the world."
Tai said that the intellectual property waiver was just one
of a number of actions that would be required to increase
manufacturing and equitable distribution of vaccines around the
world.
(Reporting by David Lawder
Editing by Marguerita Choy)