Just One of the Banes of Free Trade…

The European Union exported most of its banana’s from African and Caribbean countries. The export of bananas is a major source of revenue for these countries, which grow their bananas on small family run farms. Thus the markets of the industrialised nations of Europe were kept open to banana exports from these poorer nations. A September 1997 World Trade Organization (WTO) decision pressured by the US interprets the preference given to the African and Caribbean nations in the banana trade over huge multinational corporations like Del Monte, Chiquita and Dole as discriminatory and not giving the MNC’s a level playing field.These three corporations already control 2/3rds of the world trade in banana’s. Forcing Europe to practice ‘free trade’,which will guard the vested interests of these MNC’s, seems to be the sole aim of the U.S and the WTO (in this case and in numerous other cases).Without the preferential access to the European market the main source of income for thousands of farmers in African and Caribbean countries (such as Costa Rica and Panama)is threatened. The MNC’s can afford to sell the Banana’s at low prices and capture the European banana market. The economies of several countries in the African and Caribbean region would take a severe blow which could and invariably will cause large scale industrial, social and economic decline in these regions. The U.S and the W.T.O have imposed sanctions on the E.U thus pressurizing them to do trade with the giant multinationals in this business. This pressure has forced the E.U to not give preferencial treatment,and thus much needed aid to the African and Caribbean nations.