Antigua Rejects Latest Offer

April 15, 2008

With the World Trade Organization ruling in the favor of the tiny island of Antigua, it would serve the US well to come up with a pretty decent offer to settle the issue. Instead they haven’t – much to the dismay of both Antigua and many US residents.

The US will not allow online gambling, which has left Antigua without much of their income as that is how they make their money. The WTO sided with the tiny nation as the US was unwilling to honor trade pacts when it came to online gambling.

Antigua and Barbuda had agreed to hold off on arbitration proceedings at the WTO until the end of March – so that the proposal could be considered and a counterproposal could be made. The US, in all of its arrogance, missed the deadline and then sent a proposal that is not acceptable.

The offer was discussed by the Antigua Cabinet but was not well received. They are expected to make a statement saying that the offer has “not been met favorably.” The nation says that they had sent them a proposal last January, and expected back a decent counteroffer by the deadline, and neither of those two things happened.

They say that they are looking to “agree on the press statement” that both countries can follow the decisions on both sides.




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