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Over the years, the USTR has averaged only about five 301 investigations annually. Even rarer are cases in which the USTR has recommended punitive tariffs on the imports of the offending nation. The Chiquita case was rarer still--an instance in which the complaining company was not even a U.S. exporter. Two USTR staff members acknowledged this in a memo to Kantor on Oct. 13, 1994, saying that "if initiated, this investigation would break new ground, as this would be the first time that USTR had ever used Section 301 in connection with a product not exported from the United States but from elsewhere." Nonetheless, the staff members said "we have been persuaded by Chiquita that the practices here do have a significant effect on U.S. commerce." Lawyers for other U.S. corporations disagreed strongly. Natalie Shields, tax and trade counsel for Black & Decker, later captured the logic of the USTR decision this way: "This would inflict substantial harm on one U.S. company in an effort to benefit other U.S. companies which export bananas from third countries."
But the Clinton Administration liked the notion. On Monday, Oct. 17, 1994, Kantor authorized the 301 investigation. That Thursday night Lindner was in the White House, attending a dinner as a guest of the President. And the following week, Al Gore called Lindner, asking for another major donation. Lindner delivered. On Nov. 3, Lindner's American Financial Corp. donated $50,000 to the D.N.C. His Great American Holding Corp. donated $25,000, and his American Money Management kicked in $25,000, bringing the one-day total to $100,000.
At the same time, Senators Dole and Glenn kept the pressure on, urging Kantor in another letter on Nov. 17 to retaliate against the Europeans.
The following month, on Dec. 10, the Lindners again met with Kantor, after which they fired off a "Dear Mickey" letter, thanking him for his efforts.
At year's end, on Dec. 30, James E. Evans, a Lindner executive, contributed $150,000 to the D.N.C., bringing to $250,000 the sum that in one year Lindner, his companies and their executives poured into Democratic coffers.
On Jan. 3, 1995, four days after the latest Lindner-related contribution, Kantor announced "a list of retaliatory actions that he [was] considering against the European Union to counter E.U. policies which discriminate against U.S. banana marketing companies." Specifically, Kantor said he was contemplating sanctions "that would directly hit E.U. firms providing air, maritime and space transportation services."
On Thursday of the same week, Terry McAuliffe, Bill Clinton's moneyman and Lindner's home-building partner, sent a memo to Nancy Hernreich, one of the President's administrative assistants, summarizing a conversation he had had with the President on fund-raising activities. McAuliffe asked that overnight stays at the White House be arranged for major contributors; that dates be scheduled for contributors to have breakfast, lunch or coffee with the President; and that other contributors be included in such presidential activities as golf and jogging.