On July 16, 2026, the Inter-American Dialogue’s Mexico Program released an infographic titled Intellectual Property under the USMCA: Commitments, Challenges, and Opportunities, following a private briefing held earlier this year, examining the growing gap between the intellectual property commitments established under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreements (USMCA) and their implementation across North America.
The findings center patent linkage—the mechanism under USMCA Chapter 20 that requires regulatory agencies to notify patent holders before granting market approvals to generic competitors. While patent linkage was designed to safeguard incentives for innovation and ensure a level playing field across the region, its uneven implementation across the region has created structural vulnerabilities, allowing generic products to enter the market before patent disputes are resolved and eroding the predictability that underpins investment in strategic sectors such as pharmaceuticals and advanced manufacturing.
The analysis identifies specific implementation gaps in each market. In Mexico, questions persist over regulatory data protection and the still-pending secondary regulations needed to operationalize the Mexican Federal Law for the Protection of Intellectual Property’s notification requirements. In Canada, a patent delay compensation model that runs term restoration and regulatory review compensation concurrently—rather than sequentially—leaves patent holders with less effective market exclusivity than counterparts facing the same delay elsewhere in the region.
The infographic closes by outlining the role Congress can play in closing these gaps. It points to concrete steps: requesting reports from the United States Trade Representative on patent linkage compliance in partner countries, and using the USMCA review process to establish binding, measurable enforcement benchmarks. Sustained congressional engagement, is critical to closing these gaps and safeguarding North America’s long-term economic and strategic competitiveness. An integrated North American market with reliable intellectual property protection and real rewards for innovation can unlock shared prosperity and sustained growth. Functional patent linkage across all three USMCA markets is not merely a technical detail—it is the operational backbone of pharmaceutical IP protection.
