US given more time to negotiate compensation settlements in WTO case

The US will have additional time to reach compensatory agreements with World Trade Organization partner nations following a decision by impacted nations to extend the deadline for reaching agreements to December 14th.

“In order to provide all parties with sufficient time to reach a successful resolution, the United States and the claimants have jointly agreed that these negotiations should be extended until December 14,” Gretchen Hamel, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative’s office, said in a statement.

The US had originally faced an October 22nd deadline to reach agreements with a handful of WTO partners regarding compensation for unfair trade practices. The US was found to be in violation of a basic WTO policy that requires nations to essentially allow equal access to their markets for domestic and foreign companies.

Antiqua brought the original claim against the US in front of the WTO, noting that the US would not allow Antigua’s online gaming companies to do business in the US despite the fact that domestic online gaming companies, specifically horse race betting sites, were allowed to exist and operate legally. Once the US was found to be in violation, several other WTO members, including the European Union, were entitled to request compensation from the US as a result.

Proponents of online gambling regulation in the US are hoping that pressure from the WTO and the threat of significant punitive compensation will motivate the US to regulate online gambling, as legalization would result in parallel access to the US market for all operators, thereby making bringing the US into compliance with WTO rules and eliminating the need for the US to compensate partner nations.