Antigua Prepares to Seek More Money from U.S.

In June, the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda asked the World Trade Organization to impose $3.4 billion in trade sanctions on the United States for failing to comply with a WTO ruling which stated that U.S. restrictions on internet gambling were illegal.  Now, the nation’s attorney at the WTO, Mark Mendel, says that a second claim against the U.S. for its withdrawal from its General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) commitments will be “at least as big” as its first claim. 

In May, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced that, rather than appeal the WTO ruling again, it would just remove its gambling commitments from its GATS schedule.  The purpose of GATS is to open services to international competition; each participating country has its own schedule of what services it will and will not include.  

The European Union has already filed a $15 billion claim against the U.S. for withdrawing from GATS. 

Mendel said that he has met with USTR representatives regarding the GATS commitment, but the discussions were not fruitful.  According to Mendel, the USTR seemed to agree to the meeting for appearances only. 

While the $3.4 billion figure is several times Antigua’s GDP, Mendel says it is a “very realistic number,” which took into account the size of the online gaming market as well as Antigua’s market share.