Banana war
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Banana war
An old trade dispute between the US and the EU over taxes on the import of bananas. The EU wanted to protect banana production in the EU and some former European colonies against imports grown on US-owned plantations in Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Venezuela by fixing import quotas.
In 1993 the EU introduced protection of its own banana producers. Banana prices in the EU subsequently rose by more than 40%. The WTO decided that European protection of its banana production was in contravention of international free trade rules.
The EU was forced either to change the regulation or pay compensation. In 2001 the USA and EU reached a compromise. From 1st July 2001 the import quota for “dollars bananas” was increased by 100,000 tonnes to 2,653,000 tonnes.
