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The United States should face commercial sanctions worth more than US$3.4 billion (euro2.5 billion) each year for its failure to comply with a World Trade Organization ruling that its Internet gambling restrictions are illegal, the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda said Wednesday.
Antigua, which won a WTO ruling last year against the U.S. restrictions, is asking the trade body for authorization to target American trademarks and copyrights if the U.S. refuses to change its legislation.
It said the sanctions would come into effect "shortly," unless the United States requests a WTO arbitration panel on the level and scope of the sanctions.
"While we realize this is a significant step for Antigua and Barbuda to take, we feel we have no other choice in the matter," Antigua's Finance Minister L. Errol Cort said in a statement.
"Until such time as the United States is willing to work with us on achieving a reasonable solution to this trade dispute, we will continue to use every legitimate remedy available to protect the interests of our citizens," he said.
The move by Antigua comes a day after the European Union told the United States it too wanted compensation for the U.S. ban on foreign online gambling sites.
U.S. trade officials were not immediately available for comment.
Antigua argues that before the ban was introduced, online gambling provided income for hundreds of its citizens and helped end its reliance on tourism, which was hurt by a series of hurricanes in the late 1990s.
Last year Washington stopped U.S. banks and credit card companies from processing payments to online gambling businesses outside the country.
The decision closed off the most lucrative region in a market worth US$15.5 billion (euro11.6 billion) last year. About half of the world's online gamblers are based in the United States.
The World Trade Organization ruled in December that the law unfairly targeted offshore casinos, telling the U.S. it could keep restrictions against sport betting in place if they were also applied to American businesses.
The United States should face commercial sanctions worth more than US$3.4 billion (euro2.5 billion) each year for its failure to comply with a World Trade Organization ruling that its Internet gambling restrictions are illegal, the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda said Wednesday.
Antigua, which won a WTO ruling last year against the U.S. restrictions, is asking the trade body for authorization to target American trademarks and copyrights if the U.S. refuses to change its legislation.
It said the sanctions would come into effect "shortly," unless the United States requests a WTO arbitration panel on the level and scope of the sanctions.
"While we realize this is a significant step for Antigua and Barbuda to take, we feel we have no other choice in the matter," Antigua's Finance Minister L. Errol Cort said in a statement.
"Until such time as the United States is willing to work with us on achieving a reasonable solution to this trade dispute, we will continue to use every legitimate remedy available to protect the interests of our citizens," he said.
The move by Antigua comes a day after the European Union told the United States it too wanted compensation for the U.S. ban on foreign online gambling sites.
U.S. trade officials were not immediately available for comment.
Antigua argues that before the ban was introduced, online gambling provided income for hundreds of its citizens and helped end its reliance on tourism, which was hurt by a series of hurricanes in the late 1990s.
Last year Washington stopped U.S. banks and credit card companies from processing payments to online gambling businesses outside the country.
The decision closed off the most lucrative region in a market worth US$15.5 billion (euro11.6 billion) last year. About half of the world's online gamblers are based in the United States.
The World Trade Organization ruled in December that the law unfairly targeted offshore casinos, telling the U.S. it could keep restrictions against sport betting in place if they were also applied to American businesses.
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