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The U.S. is pushing Canada to adopt the contents of the Mexican agreement.

The generic association has been in close contact with federal negotiators and the prime minister’s office, who insist they are opposing the demand strenuously, said Jim Keon, the generic association’s president.

Photo by George Frey/Getty Images

“We have been told that the government is pushing back hard on this,” he said Friday. “The U.S. is pushing hard and Canada is defending hard. I see this as one of the ‘stalemate’ issues currently.”

Publicly, though, the pharmaceutical question has received relatively little attention, as issues like dairy supply management, Canadian culture and dispute-resolution mechanisms dominate discussion of the talks.

“Prime Minister Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Freeland don’t seem to mention it,” Keon noted.

The most recent round of negotiations to bring Canada into the U.S.-Mexico accord ended in Washington Thursday without an agreement.

A spokesman for Freeland could not be reached for comment on the pharmaceutical issue.

In fact, this may not be the issue where Canada gets American negotiators to back down, said trade lawyer Mark Warner Monday.

Even a 10-year data protection period for biologics – still two years less than what’s offered in the U.S. – is unlikely to be accepted by a U.S. Congress eager to promote the country’s brand-name pharmaceutical industry.

“The branded/patented pharmaceutical lobby will be at least as engaged there as the generic lobby appears to be in Canada,” said Warner.