Geopolitics of IP: Cross-Border Enforcement and Trade Retaliation Risks in South Asia

In the evolving landscape of global trade and diplomacy, intellectual property (IP) has emerged not merely as a tool for innovation protection, but as a potent instrument of geopolitical influence. This paper critically interrogates the geopolitical dimensions of cross-border IP enforcement in South Asia, with a specific focus on India’s strategic deployment of IP as a tool of regional power projection and trade negotiation. By analyzing India’s border enforcement practices and IP diplomacy vis-à-vis China, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, the study illuminates how legal instruments rooted in multilateral frameworks such as the TRIPS Agreement are increasingly being reframed through national security discourses, retaliatory trade measures, and regional realpolitik. The paper explores how India’s alignment with TRIPS-plus standards, selective invocation of enforcement powers at borders, and bilateral capacity-building initiatives are shaping regional compliance architectures, while also generating friction in asymmetric economic relationships. It further investigates instances where IP enforcement intersects with trade retaliation—particularly in the wake of geopolitical tensions with China and growing anxieties over counterfeit flows from neighboring economies. Drawing on legal texts, WTO submissions, customs data, and case law, the study examines the normative elasticity of IP obligations, the use of seizure and suspension powers as soft coercive tools, and the emergence of “IP securitization” as part of India’s broader strategic calculus. Ultimately, the paper argues that IP enforcement at borders has transcended its traditional technocratic confines, now operating within a broader matrix of economic diplomacy, regional competitiveness, and geopolitical signaling. The study calls for a recalibration of South Asia’s IP enforcement frameworks—one that balances legal predictability with geopolitical prudence—while resisting the weaponization of IP that may destabilize regional trade relations and development trajectories.