Last year I wrote a commentary based on the U.S .- Australian trade talks exposing how the U.S. government was cooperating with the international drug cartel to help it maintain high American drug prices - even to the point of "latching" the cartel’s agenda onto agricultural export agreements. This is now coming to pass. (Sometimes one just wishes the true allegiances of our elected "public servants" were not quite so transparent. At least maybe then we could have blind faith – albeit generally misplaced – in U.S. government officials.) Sorry to say, on July 17, Mat Rapacz of the Little Falls, NY Evening Times reported:

WASHINGTON — Will a free trade agreement with Australia affect the possibility of Americans obtaining cheaper prescription drugs from Canada? U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer thinks so, and expressed his concern in a telephone press conference Thursday.*

The House on Wednesday approved the free trade agreement by a vote of 314-109. The Senate is expected to follow Thursday with a vote to implement the agreement signed by the two countries last February.

The measure had robust bipartisan backing because Australia, unlike less developed free-trade partners, has strong labor rights and environmental laws and poses no threat to U.S. jobs. But there were some detractors, mainly among lawmakers concerned about a gradual increase in beef and dairy products from Australia and a provision in the bill that some say could impede future legislative efforts to permit the re-importation of prescription drugs.

Re-importation of prescription drugs is when pharmacists or wholesalers in foreign countries purchase brand name prescription drugs at much lower prices than in the U.S. and sell these medications back to U.S. wholesalers or pharmacies who pass savings on to consumers.

Schumer says the Australian agreement could essentially block re-importation because it obligates the U.S. to allow drug companies to prevent re-importation. Australia could force the U.S. to pass additional laws giving companies this right even if a bill is passed to allow re-importation. The right to block re-importation would not be limited to drugs from Australia, but would apply to imports from all countries.

"New Yorkers are paying hundreds more a year than Canadians just across the border for just one prescription. We need to allow re-importation now and that is why I am opposing the proposed agreement," Schumer, D-NY, said. The U.S. Trade Representative disagrees, saying that the agreement creates no new legal rights for U.S. patent holders and that Australia already bans the export of its subsidized pharmaceuticals. It added Congress can change U.S. law on re-importation, retaining its constitutional authority to change U.S. law.