Antigua Considers US Sanctions

[The Judge]

From Caribbeaan360.com

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, Wednesday July 7, 2010 – After years of trying to negotiate with the United States to amicably settle an online gaming dispute, Antigua and Barbuda appears ready to stop playing “Mr Nice Guy”.

Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer has announced that he’s considering taking up the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on its ruling that gave the twin-island nation the green light to apply up to US$21 million per year in sanctions. He said the matter has dragged on too long with no end in sight.

"Given the debilitating effect of the fiscal and economic crisis on our economy and the apparent disinterest of the United States in dealing decisively with this matter, Antigua and Barbuda may have no other choice but to signal to the WTO that we wish to impose sanctions," he said at a press conference during the CARICOM summit underway in Jamaica.

In December 2007, the WTO Dispute Settlement Body arbitrator awarded Antigua and Barbuda the right to impose trade sanctions, as compensation for online gambling operators there not being allowed to do business in the US.

However, the Spencer administration had been trying to reach an amicable solution.

But speaking in Montego Bay, Spencer said the country was having serious concerns about America’s non-compliance, six years after the first ruling was handed down.

He said that the Antiguan economy had suffered drastically as a result of the delay and while his country remained committed to partnership with the US, the government was also committed to exploring all possibilities for a settlement.

The Antigua and Barbuda leader said his Government would be seeking an early meeting with President of the United States, Barack Obama, and his administration to settle the matter.

Last month, when CARICOM heads met with US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton in Barbados, Spencer also raised the issue with her.

But the news of possible sanctions against the US is not sitting well with everybody in Antigua and Barbuda.

Callers to local radio programmes and bloggers have expressed the view that the country could feel a backlash from the US if it goes ahead with imposing sanctions.

The opposition Antigua Labour Party (ALP) has also warned against going that route and questioned the Prime Minister’s leadership.

“Any sanctions that the UPP government applies to the US would seriously hurt the people of Antigua and Barbuda and would hardly affect US businesses or the US government,” it said in a statement released yesterday.

“Antigua and Barbuda is a tiny market representing less than 0.001% of US trade in goods and services. Sanctions against US goods and services in the form of higher taxes or duties would be of no consequence whatsoever to the US but it would increase the price of such goods to the local consumers, raising the cost of living even more,” it added.

It was the ALP that first took the US before the WTO and it has now accused the United Progressive Party (UPP) regime of not handling the entire matter competently.

The dispute dates back to March 2003, when the Antigua and Barbuda government commenced the dispute resolution process of the WTO to challenge the US totally prohibiting cross-border gambling services offered by Antiguan operators.

A year later, the WTO Dispute Panel ruled in favor of Antigua, finding that the US restrictions against online gambling violated international treaties and ordering them to negotiate a settlement. Following the ruling, the two sides attempted to negotiate a resolution but those talks quickly broke down and the US appealed the panel’s ruling.

The initial ruling was upheld and after the US failed to comply with it, Antigua and Barbuda turned to the WTO again and, in 2007, the organisation’s Dispute Settlement Body arbitrator awarded Antigua and Barbuda a settlement of US$21 million per year in trade sanctions as compensation, despite the country's claim of more significant US$3.44 billion a year.

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