Word: banana
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...Pants are Gap Chinos, Banana Republic shirt, Polo Ralph Lauren tie, a Hugo Boss jacket and I think this is an Emporio Armani rain--coat. Socks are Calvin Klein. Underwear is Calvin Klein. And the shoes are Armani. The watch is actually Guess...
...banana battle grows increasingly absurd as it threatens to spread to other food groups, from ham and cheese to wafers and waffles, and to such oddities as candles, cashmere sweaters and model trains. That's because the U.S. targeted for tariffs 17 European exports chosen to "gain the most leverage" over European protectionists. How? Mainly by targeting the British, French and Italians, who have pushed to restrict Latin bananas and to favor those grown in former European colonies, like Martinique and Cameroon...
Other interests eagerly crashed the party, seeing the banana dispute as a chance to settle old scores. U.S. pork producers, suffering through a severe price slump, sought to block the import of Italian hams like prosciutto. "The E.U. has closed off much of its market to us," reasoned Nick Giordano, a lawyer at the National Pork Producers Council. "We're looking for reciprocity, and one way to get it is nicking them on bananas." The council got pork added to the hit list. The hog farmers pushed to nail Dutch and Danish ham producers. But because those two countries...
Many critics asked, reasonably enough: Why is the U.S., which doesn't grow bananas, embroiled in a banana dispute with Europe, which also doesn't grow bananas? Answer: Before the E.U. imposed the current banana regime in 1993, non-E.U. companies controlled 95% of the European banana market. Since then, American companies like Chiquita and Dole have seen their European market share plummet 50%. Hardest hit has been Chiquita, which has lost money four of the past five years--the result, company officials insist, of being denied access to the European market...
...even folks who buy access sometimes have a strong case. "There is no issue that is less attractive for us to go to a trade dispute on," admits USTR spokesman Jay Ziegler, referring to Lindner's political connections. "But the fact is, the banana dispute has evolved into a crucial test" of the enforceability of rulings by the World Trade Organization, which, to no avail, ordered the E.U. to drop its banana restrictions by Jan. 1. Rising concern about the U.S. trade deficit--up 50% in 1998 and expected to rise as much as 80% in 1999--has critics clamoring...