Abstract
This text is extracted from the book DC confidential: The controversial Memoirs of Britain's Ambassador to the US at the time of 9/11 and the Iraq War. In this chapter, the author, a former British ambassador explains the conflict known as the great banana war which occurred in the late 1990s. It is a conflict between the European Union, which want to insure economic protection for African and Caribbean countries, and the US, which stands for more and more liberalization in the global structure. This text is particularly relevant because it helps us in understanding the special relation between the UK and the US, and also between the UK and the European Union.
At the beginning of this chapter, the author explains the reasons for this conflict about a fruit that neither the US nor the European Union produce in their mainland. On the one hand, European countries supply subsidies to African and Caribbean countries which produce banana because they consider we cannot leave these countries fend for themselves in the unfair competition set by globalization. On the other hand, the US asses that every country should be in liberalized competition with others. For instance, the US defends the interests of central and Latin America which are victims of discrimination on the part of European countries which get better prices for African and Caribbean banana imports (in exchange for their help). After a while, the US got fed up and decided to apply the mechanism of retaliation to raise prices on European imports.
A German technocrat was appointed to represent European interests in the negotiations. The author explains that the position of the UK in such conflict is a bit complex because it did not take the same attitudes as other countries such as France and Germany towards European integration. On the other side, the UK has also a special relationship with the US although trade policy often generates conflicts between both countries.
