International Business / The Pacific

EU Amends Banana Import Rules: A European Union official declined to forecast whether the changes will defuse a dispute with the U.S., which, with Panama, Guatemala, Honduras and Ecuador, has complained to the World Trade Organization that the EU discriminates against banana imports from U.S.-owned plantations in Latin America. The EU said it will import more bananas from Latin America and that the number of import licenses given to traders in EU, African, Caribbean and Pacific bananas will be reduced.