The tariffs are being imposed despite the fact that a consensus had been reached between the United Kingdom and Ghana at the end of the last year.
At least £100,000 (nearly $137,000) of tariffs have been imposed on a shipment of so-called Fairtrade-certified Ghanaian bananas as a result of trade agreement complications caused by the United Kingdom as it was leaving the European Union.
The UK finally left the EU on 31 December as part of the Brexit process, reaching a trade deal with the European Union very close to the transition deadline. As a result, some other “continuity” deals intended to roll over the terms of trade the UK enjoyed as a European Union member still hang in the balance. Ghana is one of several countries the UK previously had preferential trading arrangements with through its membership in the EU. Now trade with the former British colony in western Africa is in limbo.
Exports from these countries, for now, face Britain’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences, which applies import duties at reduced rates on developing countries.