Hylton

Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter

Foreign Affairs Minister, Senator Anthony Hylton, has warned Latin American countries not to pursue actions that might destabilise African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP).

Mr. Hylton, who is also responsible for foreign trade, issued the warning against the probe being conductedby the World Trade Organisation (WTO) into the European Union (EU) banana tariff.

Decade-old dispute

On Tuesday, the WTO reopened the decade-old dispute pitting Latin American countries and the United States against the EU, according to a report from the Associated Press.

Ecuador, a Latin American country, which is also the world's largest banana producer, asked the global trade body to establish a compliance panel, claiming Brussels had failed to comply with WTO rulings.

The EU had blocked Ecuador's initial request two weeks ago and accused the country of seeking preferential treatment at the expense of some of the most vulnerable countries in the global trading system, said the AP report.

But the EU could not delay the investigation a second time under WTO rules. Ecuador is claiming the new tariff has actually taken away some of its market share in Europe, hurting more than one million Ecuadorians dependent on the banana industry.

Mr. Hylton told The Gleaner that he was very concerned about this latest development, which he said was not good news for ACP countries.

Repercussions

He warned that this action by the Latin American countries could have repercussions.

"They should remember that, in the end, it is nation states which have interests beyond trade," he said. "While trade is important, all nation states have wider foreign policies and national interests where they will need the support of ACP countries."

The WTO has consistently ruled against how the EU sets tariffs for bananas, forcing the 27-nation bloc to overhaul a system that grants preferential conditions for producers from ACP countries, mainly former British and French colonies.

Latin American producers and banana companies based in the United States have long complained that the EU rules favour Caribbean and African producers.

The United States, in 1999, and Ecuador a year later, won the right to impose trade sanctions on European goods after the WTO found the EU's rules to be illegal.

dionne.rose@gleanerjm.com