Honduras and Panama attacked the European Union at the World Trade Organisation on Wednesday over its banana import policy, threatening to raise the heat at next month's key meeting on freeing up global trade, according to Reuters. The two Latin American countries handed in letters to the Geneva-based WTO that said the EU's planned tariff of 176 euros ($207.1) a tonne went against a recent WTO arbitration finding. "We will not stand by while our countries risk poverty and destitution. Latin America will not grant a new WTO waiver to cover up the illegality of the EU banana regime under these terms," Honduras WTO ambassador Dacio Castillo said. "Our countries are ready to fight all the way to Hong Kong," he said in a joint statement issued with Panama, referring to a WTO ministerial meeting next month in the current Doha round of world trade talks that aims to lift millions out of poverty. The WTO will take three months to assess the complaint.
