Six Latin American banana producing states opened the first salvo on Wednesday in a potentially bitter trade dispute with the EU that could sour attempts to reach a global trade deal. Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras and Guatemala asked the World Trade Organisation to investigate whether new proposed EU banana import tariffs, three times the current rate, would hit their market access to the bloc. Many other banana-growing developing nations want Brussels to apply even higher tariffs to keep cheap Latin American imports out of the bloc's market. Honduran Ambassador to the WTO Dacio Castillo said the dispute could split the developing world and derail WTO trade liberalisation talks in Hong Kong at the end of the year. "The ball is in the court of the EU," he told Reuters. "The whole membership of the WTO knows about the risk." The European Commission, in charge of trade policy for the 25-nation bloc, was not available for comment. It has proposed a 230 euro per tonne tariff for banana imports. The current rate is 75 euros. African, Caribbean and Pacific developing countries get duty-free access to the EU, a lucrative market which imports four million tonnes of bananas a year. --More 2330 Local Time 2030 GMT
