U.S. Will Most Likely Face Another WTO Dispute
by Hillary LaClair, Senior Editor
The talks that took place in Washington this week between a European Union delegation, US officials and USTR officials involving the further disputes made against the US for its discrimination against overseas gambling facilities did not go well, the Reuters news agency reports. Little was said the move the case forward, business as usual for U.S. trade delegates.
Moving in the same direction as every other trade dispute with the U.S., the American Trade Representative’s office refused to change its outlook or policy on overseas gaming, and any EU efforts to argue that the U.S. shows domestic favoritism, were immediately “rebuffed.”
An official statement is yet to be made, but many speculate that the dispute is most likely to end in an expensive WTO legal confrontation. If the EU involves the WTO, showing the substantial loss they’ve suffered because of the U.S. discriminatory enforcement, the expenses will be severe.
According to Reuters, who spoke with a legal representative for the Remote Gaming Association, the European trade association has urged the EU to take punitive action against the U.S. in the internet casino gambling issue. Lode Van Den Hende commented, “It looks very much as if this matter will… be sent to the WTO at the end of the commission’s investigation.”
Reuters has also reported an anonymous EU official had commented 4to inevitability of further action, claiming a report would be put together by November. Following the report, the EU would have to decide which course of action to take, the most probable being an arbitration with the World Trade Organization.
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