The US on Wednesday placed India, China, Russia and four other countries on its annual “Priority Watch List” for intellectual property protection and enforcement.

The other countries that have been put on the list issued by the Office of the US Trade Representative are Argentina, Chile, Indonesia and Venezuela. All seven countries on this year’s list were on last year’s too.

In its “Special 301 Report” on the adequacy and effectiveness of US trading partners' protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said these countries will be the subject of particularly intense bilateral engagement during the coming year.

Twenty trading partners are on the watch list, and merit bilateral attention to address underlying IP problems — Algeria, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, Mexico, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

The “Special 301” Report is an annual review of the global state of IP protection and enforcement. USTR reviewed more than one hundred trading partners for this year's Special 301 Report.

The review of Ukraine has been suspended due to the Russian invasion, the USTR said.