[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 37 (Tuesday, March 9, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H1027]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          A TRADE WAR ON BANANAS THAT AMERICA SHOULD NOT BE IN

  (Ms. WATERS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, the United States is in a trade war with the 
European Union. It is in a trade war about bananas. We do not grow any 
bananas in the United States. How did we get into this trade war? One 
man, Carl Lindner, has triggered a trade war, Carl Lindner of Chiquita 
Bananas.
  How did this happen? It is very simple. The European Union has a 
relationship with the Eastern Caribbean. The European Union that was 
once the colonizers, when they left independence to the colonies, they 
created a relationship so that these colonies could sell their bananas 
and be independent.
  Carl Lindner cannot compete with the Eastern Caribbean, and our Trade 
Representatives, starting with Mickey Kanter, and before, Charlene 
Barchefsky, who promised we would not get into this trade war, took 
this issue before the World Trade Organization. They made the case on 
behalf of Carl Lindner, who is everybody's friend, Democrats and 
Republicans, and he has gotten us into this trade war.
  We had better wake up. This is not something we should be in. I am 
going to talk about this a lot.

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