[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Hopefully the U.S will actually comply with the Europeans and WTO.
[/ QUOTE ]
I'm extremely skeptical about a WTO decision carrying any weight for the US. Ask Canada how effective it is to win trade rulings (see softwood lumber). Canada won about eleventy billion rulings in a row and the US just told them to stick it anyway. It helped that the current Canadian government was/is spineless beyond description but the point remains.
I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the WTO cavalry to bail me out.
Tony
[/ QUOTE ]
I'm bewildered that this WTO crap keeps coming up over and over; there's got to be a lot of naive youngsters here or ppl from outside the U.S. to go on and on about this pipedream. 99% of the U.S. public has no idea what the WTO is, cares what it is or even cares that it exists.
Regardless of the merits, justifications or anything else, as a practical matter the U.S. is not going to have country-wide gambling imposed on it by the WTO. A U.S. politician trying to explain to the electorate that we must gamble because the WTO said so would be crucified.
WTO may mean something where you live, it means nothing here. Forget the WTO.
[/ QUOTE ]
It meant something to the U.S. in this instance (among others btw):
Bush Ditches Steel Import Duties
From the article:
President George W Bush has repealed US tariffs on imported steel to avoid a damaging trade war.
The decision follows a World Trade Organisation decision that the duties, imposed in March 2002, are illegal.
The issue isn't about having the WTO impose gambling across the U.S. The issue involves U.S. protectionism regarding the Horse Racing industry where the U.S. is allowing gambling via the internet but showing preference to a particular industry. My understanding is that the new law does address horse racing via the internet indicating that the legal status of horse racing via the internet is indeterminate. My understanding is that the legality of making bets on horse races has been upheld in the courts but not sure. Anyway as you can see from the article if organizations like the EU takes up the cause for companies that are in countries that are part of their organization, then the U.S. may be forced to do something. The threat of EU sanctions does have an effect on the U.S. Whether or not the EU would enjoin a place like Antigua is something I really have no idea about it's liklihood.