March 29, 2006

by Bradley Vallerius

The United States' deadline to implement a ruling by the Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organization is Monday, April 3, but the country has taken no observable actions towards conforming to the

ruling. It can safely be assumed that on Monday neither the U.S.' opponent in the dispute -- the tiny island nation of Antigua and Barbuda nor the Dispute Settlement Body will be satisfied with the U.S.' status report.

The absence of action on behalf of the U.S. not only casts doubt on whether Antigua can reap any sort of reward from its victory, but on a larger scale it also seriously jeopardizes the integrity of an international body that is meant to provide a fair venue for disputes between countries both big and small.