Antigua and Barbuda has its answer. The World Trade Organization awarded the small Caribbean island nation a mere token of the $3.44 billion in sanctions it was trying to receive. According the arbitration ruling, Antigua and Barbuda will be awarded $21 million a year from the United States in trade sanctions.
Though not $3.44 billion, it is considerably more than the $500,000 that the U.S. was counter offering to settle this dispute before it went to arbitration.
According to the Guardian Unlimited, a WTO arbitrator said that Antigua can “exercise the sanctions in intellectual property, such as films and music, for instance by lifting copyright protection, as well as in services, which includes sectors such as banking and telecommunications as well as gambling.”
Neither the U.S. nor Antigua can appeal the WTO’s decision.
The panel said in its 88 page decision it felt it was “on shaky grounds†when it adopted its own approach to come up with an amount that it thought was reasonable considering the wide gap in figures that the U.S. and Antigua had in regards to the economic impact of the gambling ban.
The U.S. has successfully negotiated agreements with the European Union (consisting of 27 nations), Canada and Japan earlier this week. As of now, Antigua, Costa Rica, India and Macau have not reached any agreement.
The U.S. online betting ban will continue to be illegal under international trade rules until the U.S. can get the approval of all 151 members of the WTO. This ruling will allow Antigua and Barbuda to have the right to penalize U.S. services and intellectual property until the U.S. either allows U.S. citizens to gamble on foreign based online sites or eliminates exceptions for off-track betting on horses.
Earlier this week there was disappointment by European gambling companies over the EU accepting what some would say was minor U.S. trade concessions. The EU was reportedly looking at a possible $100 billion in trade sanctions but fell far short when the excepted a deal that, according the EU Commissioner, was
“A bilateral agreement which provides EU service suppliers with new trade opportunities in the US postal and courier, research and development, storage and warehouse sectors, the US also made concessions in the testing and analysis services sector.â€Â
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