trade laws. Every nation has domestic political interests to consider in international trade matters. The world’s trade rules were designed to promote the important global interest of fair trade. The EU is severely harming the cause of free and fair trade. The EU did start to head in the right direction, however, after the Bush Administration threatened to implement the “carousel” law. The “carousel” law was designed under the Clinton Administration, but never put into effect. The law requires the administration to revise the list of EU goods hit with 100 percent duties every six months until disputes over bananas are resolved. They responded by attempting to restructure their import restrictions so as to comply with the WTO. They just recently designed a new import system called “first-come first-served”. Under this system, a banana exporter applies for entry into the European Union market only when its bananas are loaded on a ship, fully documented, and already on the water committed to the European Union. The discrimination of the current illegal system is eliminated because all applicants will be treated equally and each applicant gains market access in the same proportion as every other applicant based on the applicant’s actual commitment of bananas to the European Union (Murdock). They also have promised that this is just their first move toward an open and competitive banana market. They passed a law committing to open its banana market no later than January of 2006. The U.S. government as well as Chiquita is opposed to this new system. Chiquita wants managed trade, a closed market with a guaranteed market share. Under this proposal, licenses would be awarded only to certain importers based on their historical market shares of five to ten years ago. This proposal is flawed, though since there is no fair or legal basis to achieve it. It also sets a bad precedent for...
