US Still Dragging Heels

June 8, 2008

The United States is dragging its heels when it comes to having an agreement with Antigua over online gambling. The World Trade Organization had backed Antigua�s request last year to target the US and their services, copyrights, and trademarks in response to the online gambling ban that had been passed.

The WTO gave the two countries until June 6th to come up with an agreement, but it has not happened. They say that Antigua has compromised all over the place, but the US will not. Their attorney says that the US will not be able to meet the Friday deadline.

Antigua and Barbuda has told the US that their online gambling ban is crippling them financially, but the US does not care. They also don�t care that the majority of Americans want online gambling legalized. Therefore they are holding fast to their so called principles.

The small country says that they are willing to continue negotiations, but only if they think that the US is truly trying to find common ground. They say that if the US will work with them they think that they can come to some sort of resolution in the online gambling case.

The country�s lawyer says that the country has been much kinder about it saying that they saw real progress, even though no one else really agrees. Their Finance Minister Errol Cort said that he thought they were well on their way to a �positive settlement agreement.�




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