CaribWorldNews, NEW YORK, N.Y., Mon. July 28, 2008: The African, Caribbean and Pacific trade group is threatening to block a global trade agreement.
The ACP threat comes amidst an E.U. plan to lower banana tariffs for certain Latin American countries.
The ACP fears this will harm their own banana industry and has offered a counter-proposal.
‘We will block the (WTO) negotiations if our latest counter-proposal is not accepted,’ said Cameroon Trade Minister Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, spokesman for the ACP.
ACP representatives met with E.U. Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson on Sunday to discuss the issue and present the counter-proposal.
In a bilateral deal arrived at on Saturday, the E.U. is offering to cut tariffs for 11 banana-producing nations in Latin America from 176 euros per tonne to 114 euros.
The ACP’s counter-proposal suggests a cut of 117 euros per tonne by 2016.
