The Anatomy of the EU-US WTO Banana Trade Dispute

This paper provides an overview of the banana dispute between the EU and the United States at the WTO which was finally resolved in July 2001. The paper outlines the origins of the dispute in the EU's legal obligations to its preferred suppliers, primarily former colonies, and the subsequent evolution of the EU banana trade regime. The Single European Act and subsequent complaints to the GATT and the WTO have necessitated successive reforms of the EU banana regime, culminating in a landmark WTO Panel decision in 1997. These successive regimes are summarised, along with the GATT and WTO complaints and the WTO Panel findings. The resolution of the trade policy issues concerning bananas opens the way for the serious competition issues to be more readily addressed