ABSTRACT
The common themes running throughout this analysis of the Commodity Protocols of the European Union (EU) are their particular economic importance to some of the countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean and their demise in the face of the challenge by the United States, under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). As we have seen the Commodity Protocols have been of considerable value to a number of Commonwealth Caribbean economies, indeed it could be argued that as a group they have been one of the major beneficiaries. The free-trade agreement would open up the domestic sugar markets of the Commonwealth Caribbean to competition from subsidised Community sugar beet producers. There are serious doubts as to the future of the Cotonou/Lomé Conventions themselves and the continued special treatment of the African Caribbean and Pacific group by the European Community.
