EU, Latin American Countries End 20-Year Banana Dispute

The European Union and 10 Latin American countries recently signed an agreement regarding banana import tariffs, settling the longest-running series of disputes in the history of the multilateral trading system, dating back 20 years, according to the World Trade Organization.

Latin American countries present were Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela and Peru (which did not sign because it was not directly involved in the disputes, but participated in negotiations).

Maximum tariff rates for bananas were accepted by the WTO’s membership as part of the EU’s commitment, specifying that rates will decline to 114 euros per ton by Jan. 1, 2017.

The EU’s commitment includes the Geneva Banana Agreement, which was signed by the EU, the Latin American countries and the U.S. in December 2009.