Washington -- The United States has proposed global elimination of tariffs and nontariff barriers in trade of pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

A February 27 press release from the U.S. mission in Geneva, where the long-stalled World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations are conducted, says developing countries impose duties up to 40 percent on medicines and up to 30 percent on medical devices.

Yet a third of the world's population, especially people in the poorest countries, lacks access to medical care and has low life expectancy and high rates of disease, according to the proposal submitted jointly by the United States, Singapore and Switzerland in alliance with health nongovernmental organizations.

"It is ironic that many of the countries that are in urgent need of cheap medicines also have a significant tax added to the drugs and medical devices they import,” Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Peter Allgeier said.

“As import tariffs on medicines comprise a small proportion of government revenues," he said, "these countries should immediately eliminate these tariffs and improve access to medicines and medical devices.”

The United States has backed the idea of supplementing general WTO negotiations on reducing tariffs in industrial-goods trade with sector-specific negotiations.  Such negotiations allow a critical mass of countries representing most of the world trade in a sector to eliminate tariffs in that sector.

Besides medicines and medical devices, sector-specific negotiations have been suggested for chemicals, electronic equipment, forest products and other products.

WTO negotiations on reducing tariffs in industrial goods have advanced little since the larger negotiating round, formally called the Doha Development Agenda, was launched in 2001.  Developing countries have resisted making concessions on nonagricultural tariffs until wealthier countries commit to reducing substantially agricultural subsidies.

The press release is available on at the Web site of the U.S. mission in Geneva.

For additional information, see USA and the WTO.