EU negotiators are talking unofficially with the world's top banana exporter Ecuador on how to cut Europe's import duty for the fruit, hoping to avoid the effects of a global trade lawsuit, officials said on Thursday.
In March, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) launched an investigation into a complaint by Ecuador that the EU's single import tariff for bananas is too high and breaks trade rules. The WTO panel of three trade judges was named last week and is expected to reach a preliminary verdict in October.
It already looks like a possible re-run of the bitter 1990s conflicts over bananas, which the European Union lost at the hands of the United States and Ecuador. The deal that ended the dispute was for the EU to replace its complex system of banana quotas and duties with a single entry tariff, in force since January 2006.
Officially, discussions on the banana tariff between Ecuador and the European Commission - which negotiates foreign trade on behalf of the EU's 27 governments - are suspended, due to the WTO case. But unofficially, they are continuing, officials say. Despite the trade challenge, the Commission remains open to negotiating a solution on a tariff that would satisfy Ecuador and other Latin American exporters, some of which have also filed WTO complaints against the EU over the banana tariff.
Colombia is said to have proposed a formula for tariff reduction but no details are as yet available. "It's still possible that Ecuador will withdraw its panel request if we find common ground," one EU official told Reuters. Industry insiders say the Commission has offered to reduce the current tariff level of 176 euros ($235.50) per tonne gradually.
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