Canada, the COVID-19 waiver, and trade fetishism

Canada's resistance to the COVID-19 waiver of intellectual property rights at the World Trade Organization (WTO) for so long remains a conundrum given the Trudeau government's stated devotion to "progressive trade." This article summarizes Canada's global pandemic efforts, a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Studies in political economy 2022-01, Vol.103 (1), p.80-93
Main Author: Fridell, Gavin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
COVID-19
Fetishism
Foreclosure
Free trade
Intellectual property
International trade
Liberalization
Pandemics
Political economy
progressive trade
Property rights
Resistance
Trade liberalization
TRIPS Waiver
Unconsciousness
vaccines
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Canada's resistance to the COVID-19 waiver of intellectual property rights at the World Trade Organization (WTO) for so long remains a conundrum given the Trudeau government's stated devotion to "progressive trade." This article summarizes Canada's global pandemic efforts, arguing that progressive trade in fact helps to explain its waiver stance. Progressive trade evokes trade liberalization as a simple, even magical "fetish" that realizes unconscious desires for disavowal, mastery, and foreclosure. Trade fetishism asserts itself against the waiver, revealing the limits of Canada's approach and the fantasies that animate it. This paper is part of the SPE Theme on the Political Economy of COVID-19.
ISSN:0707-8552
1918-7033
DOI:10.1080/07078552.2022.2047476