Ecuador, the world's top banana exporter, said it will insist the European Union sticks to a deal to slash import tariffs on bananas despite the collapse of the Doha world trade talks yesterday, reports Reuters.
Deputy Trade Minister Eduardo Egas said Ecuador rejects the EU’s decision to call off the deal because of the failure of wider trade talks in Geneva, and would continue legal action against the EU if there was no agreement to end the long-standing dispute.
A deal to settle a historic row over trade in bananas between Latin American exporters and the EU had been agreed on Sunday within the framework of the broader WTO Doha round negotiations, after the EU's executive commission agreed to lower its import duties for bananas from Latin American countries from €176 a tonne to €114 by 2016.
The move had angered rival exporters in former European colonies in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries whose bananas enter the EU tariff-free as part of a long-standing trade deal with the EU. But by Tuesday the ACP had reluctantly agreed to accept the deal.
However, the collapse of the Doha round talks leaves the deal in tatters. 'This was always linked to Doha,' said Peter Power, a spokesman for EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, referring to the WTO's global trade negotiations.
'This was not a stand-alone agreement and was going to be part of Doha package, so there is no banana deal as of now,' Mr Power said.
