A major United States publication says Antigua and Barbuda will be a Caribbean headache for President Barack Obamas new nominee of chief trade negotiator - Michael Froman.
Bloomberg Businessweek says Michael Froman has plenty of negotiating work ahead of him.
With so many challenges ahead, you can forgive Froman if fixing a dispute with the tiny country of Antigua and Barbuda doesnt rank high on his to-do list.
But unless he does find some bandwidth for the Caribbean nation, US software companies, drug makers, and Hollywood studios could face significant headaches, it warns.
According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Antigua, which has been waging a decade-long fight over American attempts to shut down the islands online gambling industry, is threatening to allow people to ignore protection of intellectual-property rights for trademarks and copyrights.
If confirmed by the US Congress, Froman, will also need to address trade disputes with China and India while also hammering out free-trade deals with Asian countries .
The publication notes that Antigua started online gambling in the mid-1990s and enjoyed some early success before a crackdown from the US.It says Internet betting at its peak generated US$3.4 billion a year for the island.
But by the early 2000s, the American government started to target the online gambling business, adding that the money soon dried up for Antigua.
Antigua and Barbuda has taken its case to the World Trade Organization (WTO), which has ruled in the islands favor and given the countrys government permission to retaliate against the US.
Bloomberg Businessweek says Antigua can get US$21 million a year by selling Made-in-America intellectual property (IP)without having to pay the companies that own that IP.
Antigua and Barbudas Finance Minister Harold Lovell told the publication that: We would like to echo President Obamas hope that Froman will level the playing field for all in the international trading system.
