Obama USTR to Inherit European Online Casinos Issue

Kirk is known as a proponent of free trade, and part of his duties were described by an Obama transition team member as being responsible for fighting to keep markets open to US goods.

Reports have been released that Ron Kirk, the former mayor of Dallas, will be President-elect Obama's choice as United States Trade Representative. As such, Kirk will be trusted to settle a mess left behind by Susan Schwab, who has dealt with conflicts between the treaties her office has negotiated and the absurd hardlining of the Bush administration regarding online casinos by using a policy of ignoring US trade partners.

Kirk will walk into a situation which is rapidly escalating into a serious international trade problem, as the USTR has hardly bothered to respond to calls from leaders of the European Union and Antigua, as well as within the US Congress, to freeze actions against foreign operators of Internet casinos.

Commissioner Peter Mandelson of the European Union has formally requested that US prosecutions against online gambling operators be halted until the legal obligations caused by free trade treaties can be examined, and a solution negotiated. Yet, Ambassador Schwab has barely acknowledged the concerns of the EU, even while Partygaming's Anurag Dikshit is strongarmed into a plea.

Antigua has won damages awarded by the World Trade Organization against the US for its protectionist policies regarding online gambling, but the USTR's office has allowed several deadlines to resolve the damages to pass, causing negotiations between the countries to drag on and risk further charges before the WTO.

Kirk is known as a proponent of free trade, and part of his duties were described by an Obama transition team member as being responsible for fighting to keep markets open to US goods. As the debacle with the European Union worsens, it will become harder to retain these markets unless the US changes its haughty unilateral closure of its borders to online casinos.