WTO Case with US Continues Despite a Final Ruling

According to the landmark WTO decision the US must pay trade sanctions. In conclusion, Antigua and Barbuda will be able to receive $21 million in compensation for their loss of gambling revenue since the 2006 US online gambling ban.

Again, the US is looking to dodge major sanctions in it's WTO case saying it was revising its WTO commitments. “Washington has begun a formal process at the WTO to adjust its commitments and is in official talks with Antigua and the other six WTO members that said to have been affected” said US Trade Representative spokesman Sean Spicer.

“As soon as the US schedule of commitments will be final and clarified, any problems in our mutual disagreement with Antigua will be debatable, and there will no longer be any basis for suspending WTO commitments,” he added.

In the beginning Antigua protested the US gambling ban charging that it was a breach in WTO agreements. They asked the WTO for 3.44 billion dollars worth of trade sanctions, which the US stated was “patently excessive” and more than three times the value of the Antiguan economy in total.