Barbados and its Caribbean neighbours concerned about negative fallout from United States rum subsidies may win the battle and risk losing the war if they take their dispute to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Instead, said American trade lawyer Andrea Ewart, the region might get a better resolution if it works the issue out directly with the US. The Jamaica-born Ewart, who was in Barbados last week as the featured presenter at a United States Embassy Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) technical meeting with Barbados private sector representatives, said she was not privy to the discussions involving the rum divide, but she said the subsidies to producers in the United States Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico was “possibly” a violation of World Trade Organisation rules.
But even if Barbados and company got such proof, she said, the region would still have to work the issue out with the US.
Speaking at Courtyard Marriott during an interview with BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY, Ewart said: “That is a very complex issue because the Rum Cover-Over Programme, which is what is at the heart of the issue, has existed since [the 1900s] and it was not created to provide a subsidy for the rum producers, but it’s being used that way.
“Is this a violation of WTO law? Possibly, but that would require more extensive analysis and so on to arrive at the determination. Even if it were, is going to the WTO the best remedy for Barbados or for the region, or would it perhaps be a combined approach because a win at the WTO would still nevertheless require coming back to partner with the US, having discussions with the US to try to resolve the issue.
“So that would suggest that those discussions with the US should be taking place,” she added.
The attorney at law, who heads DevelopTradeLaw, LLC, based in Washington DC, also saw a need for the trade relationship between the Caribbean and US, within the context of the Caribbean Basin Initiative, to evolve 30 years after the initial legislation was passed. (SC)
