To fight U.S. tariffs, Canada should suspend U.S. drug patents, expert says

Now that the Trump administration has imposed 25% tariffs on goods from Canada, the Canadian government is levying tariffs in return. But other measures are also being examined and one notion the Canadian government should consider is suspending patent rights held by U.S. companies, including pharmaceutical companies, according to Richard Gold, a professor of law and medicine at McGill University who specializes in intellectual property issues.

As he sees it, the pharmaceutical industry would have a lot to lose should the Canadian government take such a step and, therefore, would feel compelled to lobby the White House to roll back the tariffs. Of course, there are a lot of variables involved in such calculations. We spoke with Gold about this idea, which he floated several weeks ago in Canada, and what it would take to happen. This is an edited version of our conversation.

So where does this proposal come from?