The One Rule That Rewrote Global Banana Trade

For decades, the global banana trade was dominated by a handful of American multinationals. Then the European Union introduced a complex tariff-and-quota system that favored former colonies. This episode traces the longest-running dispute in WTO history — from the 1993 banana regime to the 2009 Geneva Agreement — and shows how a single trade rule reshaped the entire industry. Lucas and Luna walk through the original 'Banana Protocol' in the Lomé Convention, the US-EU showdown at the WTO, and how Ecuador, the world's largest banana exporter, leveraged the dispute to rewrite the rules. Along the way, they unpack what the banana case reveals about the tension between development preferences and free trade principles. A specific, underappreciated chapter in trade history with lessons that echo in today's disputes over digital services and agricultural subsidies. #BananaTrade #WTO #US-EUTrade #LoméConvention #EcuadorBananas #GenevaAgreement #TradeDispute #Dole #Chiquita #TariffQuota #DevelopmentPreferences #FreeTrade #Economics #GlobalTrade #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #TradeHistory #SupplyChains Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo