By Jennifer L. Wilkie, Jenny Thistle, Justin Smith

In a joint statement on September 30, 2018, the United States and Canadian Governments announced that they reached an agreement, alongside Mexico, on a new, modernized trade agreement for the 21 century. The pending trilateral deal, called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), is intended to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) currently in force.

The text of the USMCA was published on the Office of the United States Trade Representative website shortly after the formal agreement was announced. The deal includes updated provisions governing the protection and enforcement of intellectual property (IP) rights which, if ratified, will modify the legal and regulatory landscape for the pharmaceutical industry in Canada, notably in the field of biologics. The following is a summary of what is new and what will likely remain the same after the USMCA comes into force.