Imperialism In Banana Trade

Even though bananas may simply look like a fruit, they signify a wide variety of environmental, economic, social, and political problems. The banana trade injustices in the global trade market, symbolizes economic imperialism, and the worldwide spread of the agricultural economy. Bananas are also number four on the list of staple crops in the world and one of the major profit makers in supermarkets, making them vital for economic and global food security. Being one of the many first tropical fruits to be exported, bananas were a cheap way to bring “the tropics” to North America and Europe. Bananas have become such a widespread, inexpensive grocery item that we often forget where they come from and how they got here.
Bananas are internationally one of the most frequently eaten fruit, not just in the tropics where they are typically grown, but in regions like North America and Europe. However, the way bananas are produced and exported gives an insight into a number of global issues. For decades one multinational, United Fruit Company (now declined), was often accused of trying to change or bribe Latin American government officials in replace for preferential conduct, exploiting workers, creating an abusive cartel, and—similar to accusations some oil companies have

The resulting emergency meetings by the WTO raised concerns about whether the WTO can be an effective moderator in such disputes if nations decide to do things unilaterally. In other words, if larger, powerful nations can impose their will whenever they wish, what would be the fate of the poorer or less powerful nations? Even at the WTO Ministerial Meeting in Seattle, Caribbean nations would have likely lost out and gained little from the world trade liberalization agenda of the WTO had the huge public not been able to derail that