Spencer discussed met with New York Democrat Rep. Charles Rangel, the Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and three other members of the Congressional Black Caucus in Antigua.
The tiny island nation has alleged the U.S. harmed its gaming industry by prohibiting Americans from placing online bets with Internet gambling operators in the Caribbean locale.
A Dialogue
"We're hoping that coming out of this dialogue here, Charlie Rangel would have a better and greater appreciation of Antigua and Barbuda's position," said Spencer.President Bush and the then-Republican Congress last fall barred American banks and credit card companies from processing payments made to online and offshore gambling operators, denying the international gaming industry access to a lucrative U.S. economy. Rules implementing the law, however, have yet to be enforced, experts noticed, making the ban something of a specter, rather than a real threat.
Antigua has touted online gambling to ease its dependency on tourism, filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization and is seeking to impose $3.4 billion in trade penalties against the Americans.
Rep. Rangel said he frets taht Washington may have "overstepped" its bounds in the long-time dispute.
"I think my country is wrong in trying to change the rules of the WTO," Rangel told journalists. "Your great nation and ours will have to negotiate those differences in terms of equity and fairness."
Last December, the WTO said the U.S. could not target offshore and online casinos without applying the same rules to American operators of "off-track horse and dog race betting."
After that adverse ruling, politicians in Washington vowed to remove and exempt Internet gambling from its WTO treaty obligations. But, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, India, Japan, Macau and the 27-nation European Union have joined Antigua in filing compensation claims against the U.S.
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