Title: Chiquita Banana Supply Chain
Headings: 
Chiquita Banana Supply Chain
Map of the general supply chain of Chiquita Banana
Overview of Supply Chain
Chiquita Displaces Locations
The Good and Bad of Chiquita
Governance
Chiquita and the WTO
Labor
Labor Conditions and "Race to Bottom"
Attempts at Improvement
Environment
More Environmental Impacts
Discourse, Images, and Brand Identity
Discourse, Images, and Brand Identity (cont.)
Discourse, Images, Brand Identity (cont.)

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Chiquita and the WTO
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Chiquita and the WTO vs. the EU
Beginning in the mid 1990s, the US and several Central American Countries began challenging tariffs, called banana regimes, that the EU imposed on banana imports that were not from the Caribbean, Africa, or the Pacific, all former colonial areas of Europe. It was obvious however, that these tariffs did not hurt the US’s economy, but the US became involved at the request of Chiquita after Chiquita challenged the tariffs in 1994, claiming they reduced Chiquita’s share of the European market by over 50%. A study showed that the CEO of Chiquita and other executives were some of the largest campaign contributors to both the Republican and Democratic Parties in the 1993-1994 election cycle. This is often cited as the reason why the US would become involved in a lengthy trade dispute for a company whose majority workforce and facilities were outside the US. “Only one U.S. company, Chiquita, cared enough about the EU subsidies to seek U.S. government intervention, and it had most of its operations and employees outside the United States. A change in EU subsidies favorable to the Chiquita position offered little discernible benefit to the American economy” (Gassama). After years of debate, the World Trade Organization ruled against the EU’s tariffs, and forced the EU to reduce taxes on banana imports from Central America. While Chiquita “claimed victory, stating that for every ten-euro reduction in tariff, the brand will save about twelve million dollars a year”, the Caribbean's banana industry was effectively destroyed as it could not compete with Central American banana plantations without the higher tariffs. Facebook Twitter Share
Labor
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A lack of training, poor application techniques, and a lack of necessary proper equipment combined with the dangerous pesticides used on banana plantations put banana workers at high risk of pesticide poisoning in Central American countries. Costa Rica, for example, reports hundreds of cases of pesticide poisoning each year.