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Despite the growth and liberalization of world trade in the post-World War II era, the international trade in bananas remained a highly regulated one, especially in Europe. The import of inexpensive bananas distributed by large US-based brands, particularly, was limited by trade quotas in European Union nationsùa policy justified, said EU nations, by the need to find ways to assist former European colonies, long reliant on such trade. This case describes efforts by the Office of the United States Trade Representative, urged on by such major distributors of Central and Latin American bananas as the Chiquita and Dole corporations, to use the World Trade Organization to end the regime of European banana import restriction. Specifically, it describes the US decision to impose retaliatory tariffs following the European Union's resistance to a World Trade Organization decision favorable to US banana interests. The case is designed to use the specific example of bananas as an introduction to the contemporary world trade order and to the ways in which nations interpret and employ the language of trade agreements. At the same time, it can serve as a vehicle for discussion of the merits or demerits of globalization and free trade, as well as the basis for discussion of negotiation strategy at the point of apparent impasse.Curriculum Division: Analysis of Policies and InstitutionsAuthor: Susan Rosegrant; Sponsor: Robert Z Lawrence