The Caribbean governments have been petitioning the Obama lead administration about these heavy subsidies for the past year or so, but their appeals have fallen on deaf ears. The real issue in my mind is that the US is subsidizing a British Giant Diageo. I have less of a problem with Cruzan, and American owned operation, especially when the rum producers on our home soil are not receiving the same consideration. In a quote in the New York Amsterdam News, "Frank Ward, chairman
of the Barbados Rum Industry, drove home this week the fears of the CARIFORUM
nations by telling a national audience that a challenge to the Geneva-based WTO
trade disputes agency will be the likely outcome of the current rum war if all
other options fail as feared."
With the election behind us, it is time for the administration to take a second look at this problem. It is not only a problem for the Caribbean, but one for the rest of the world's rum producers. Like any other industry, you can not subsidize one brand without providing the same assistance to the others or we will be suffering from the failure of the true American system of business.
"We find it
extremely difficult to compete, and it is a challenge at this point in time. We
are appealing not just to the Barbados rum industry, but the CARIFORUM rum
industry in general, and to our governments to take this issue very seriously
and to seek to have a dialogue with the U.S. government, with a view to
resolving what we feel is an iniquitous and pernicious use of subsidies for
multinational spirit companies and their rum production," Ward stated.
Kelly Railean said "There are over 80 American manufacturers of rum operating in the USA and it is time to establish quality standards for "American Rum." Ask any American rum manufacturer and they will tell you that the main obstacle to growing the domestic rum category and their small business is the unfair tax subsidies offered exclusively to rum companies operating in U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico and USVI. These subsidies restrict free market competition and give global manufacturers such as Bacardi and Diageo an unwarranted hold on the American rum market. The American Rum Association is fully committed to exposing these unfair practices and providing products made in the U.S.A.; thus providing jobs, fueling our American economy and aiding in the recovery of our economic system."
The time has come to create a level playing field for the rum industry to grow in a time when America is rediscovering rum. I for one do not want to have my choices of rum determined by the bureaucrats in Washington D.C., by subsidizing foreign producers at the expense of the American ones.
