Tiny Antigua’s luck with successive American administrations continues to be a source of concern as the Trump government is just the latest to refuse to pay the country after losing an embarrassing decades-old battle over internet gaming.
Back in 2023, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled that the U.S. must pay the federation with Barbuda $21 million a year in a landmark ruling that had much to do with the U.S. forcing American-owned internet gaming companies operating out of Antigua to close down, putting hundreds of workers on the breadline.
After it lost the “David vs. Goliath” case, the WTO ruled that the U.S.’s unilateral shutdown of the federation’s online gaming industry was illegal in terms of international trade agreements, so it awarded the country the money as compensation for the loss of income, taxes, and jobs, among other things.
Even back then, U.S. negotiators and government officials had bluntly told local officials that Washington would never obey the ruling and would not honor its obligation, especially if it lost the case.
The debt has now ballooned to nearly $400 million and, despite pleas from Antiguan authorities, the situation remains unchanged because U.S. officials regard the issue as closed and dead.
A few months ago, Antiguan officials expressed fears that the political generation dealing with the case would most likely die out with the case still slotted in the unresolved basket.
“It is a classic case of ‘wrong and strong’ and ‘might is right.’ We have always thought that US$21 million per year in penalties was too low,” said the local Observer newspaper. “Beyond the fact that we will likely never see that payment, the annual award is a mere fraction of what was taken from us.”
The WTO had given the country the right to suspend copyright obligations and payments to American behemoths like Disney as an alternative payment system, but little or no action has ever been pursued by the federation.
The twin island state in the Eastern Caribbean has been in the news recently because the U.S. has again appeared to target it quite unfairly through a series of policy shifts in recent months.
Late last year, the State Department imposed tough tourist visitor restrictions on Antigua’s citizens, along with those of its neighbor, Dominica. Then, just a few weeks ago, the department again announced that Antiguan and Barbudan citizens must lodge a refundable visa application bond of up to $20,000 to apply to travel to the U.S. Additional burdens include locals having to travel to the sub-regional U.S. mission in Barbados and rent hotels. Most are now being rejected even after coming up with the bond, funding air fares, hotels, and other expenses only to be turned away.
Top officials like Prime Minister Gaston Browne have accused the U.S. of rank bullyism, especially because of the latest pressure Washington is applying to force the country to accept up to 120 non-national deportees who are being kicked out of the U.S. and dumped in the federation. The cabinet has pushed back against this, saying it will not accept more than 10 a year. The visa restrictions have been imposed in the middle of the negotiations over deportees, and Brown has wasted no time in drawing a link between the visa fiasco and refusal to take 120 strangers.
“Stand firm against the evil, discriminatory, and bullying practices of the powerful. Do not fear. Do not despair. Soldier on in optimism for a brighter future,” he said recently as the bond issue made the news. “Do not worry, my dear people. Do not fear. We are covered by God’s almighty hand. The challenges that are meant to break us will certainly make us stronger.”
As the low-grade tensions continue to linger, word is emerging that the country is also being punished because the cabinet had refused last year to entertain requests from the U.S. to allow the U.S. military to set up equipment as it was preparing for action against Venezuela and its now captured President Nicolas Maduro. Grenada has also done likewise and has also found itself on the mandatory bond list, officials say.
