USVI calls for end to rum dispute

CHARLOTTE AMALIE, US Virgin Islands—The United States Virgin Islands have now turned to moral suasion in an attempt to get fellow rum producing nations in the Caribbean Forum nation to back down from plans to take their ongoing dispute before the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
United States Virgin Islands Governor John de Jongh has sent letters to the prime ministers of Antigua and Barbuda, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, and St Lucia, asking them for the sake of Caribbean unity to avoid the WTO action that could lead to a prolonged legal case that he thinks could prove divisive and difficult to win.
A March 4 letter from de Jongh to Antigua’s prime minister Baldwin Spencer cautions that the WTO filing could “inflict damage on all of our economies”. The letter is reportedly similar to letters sent to the other Caribbean leaders.