Escalating a nasty trade fight with the European Union over bananas, the Clinton Administration announced last week that it will slap hundreds of millions of dollars in punitive tariffs on European products. This decision is being seen by some as a multi-million dollar Christmas present to the Cincinnati-based Chiquita Banana Company. Its politically influential boss, millionaire businessman Carl Lindner, blames much of its 457-million dollar losses since 1992 on what he sees as the European Union’s unfair trade practices.
Guest:
- Larry Birns, executive director of the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs, who has been watching these developments closely for several years.
Related links:
- PNN 12/24/98–The Banana Trade
- Democracy Now! 7/7/98–The Chiquita Banana Story
- World Trade Organization
Related Story
StorySep 11, 2025“Moment of Great Peril”: Jeff Sharlet on Killing of Charlie Kirk & Rising Political Violence in U.S.The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.
Top
Media Options