The United States this week warned Antigua and Barbuda against moving ahead with its plan to retaliate against the U.S. in a longstanding dispute over a World Trade Organization-faulted U.S. ban on cross-border Internet gambling services, saying that such a move would only undermine the chances for a bilateral settlement. It did so at a Dec. 17 meeting of the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) in Geneva, where the U.S. and Antigua clashed over the gambling dispute. The meeting came after Antigua on Dec. 13 submitted a formal request for the DSB to grant authorization for Antigua to move ahead in suspending up to $21 million annually in intellectual property concessions to the U. S. under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). However, Antigua will not be able to retaliate against the U.S. until next year at the earliest. The form and amount of that retaliation was already approved by a WTO arbitrator in 2007. Antigua's request to move ahead with retaliation must be formally approved by the DSB, but the matter was not on the agenda of the Dec. 17 meeting, so no formal action could be taken there.
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