Banana wars : the price of free trade, a Caribbean perspective
"Bananas are taken for granted today as part of the diet of ordinary people in industrial countries. In the Windward Islands of the Caribbean, bananas provided around one-third of all jobs and half their export earnings - until recent WTO rulings began to undermine the industry." "In this history, Gordon Myers tells the story of how the US government, in response to grievances of one American corporation, led the World Trade Organisation to nullify a European Community commitment to protect the livelihood of small Caribbean banana growers. The WTO's own working practices also emerge as inflexible and myopic."--Jacket
xi, 191 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
9781842774526, 9781842774533, 1842774522, 1842774530
53462017
Introduction
The beginnings
A benevolent empire
The Windward Islands
Banana Wars in the Commonwealth
Judicial review and resolve to reform
The European Community: pre-1993
The market and the major players
Negotiating the new regime
The first GATT challenges, 1993-94
The birth of the WTO: compromise at Marrakesh
Chiquita and the US campaign
The First WTO case
A disputed conformity
Spin and reality
Seeking an agreed solution
Cotonou complications
Winners and losers
A threatened future
prospects for survival
Equitable trading?
Reflections on the WTO
Post-mortem
Afterword / Edison James
Appendix: a climate of uncertainty