KINGSTON, Jamaica — Sugar helped build the Caribbean and fueled its growth long before tourism became the backbone for most island economies. Now, in an era of free trade, the region is finally losing its sweet tooth.

European countries are planning to sharply reduce subsidies to sugarcane growers in their former Caribbean colonies amid a ruling by the World Trade Organization that the preferences violate global trade rules.

The plan promises to deal another blow to the region's beleaguered sugar industry, which has been supplanted by tourism as the region's chief earner of foreign income but remains a major source of jobs and revenue.

The harsh fiscal climate has already led one Caribbean country to abandon sugar production, while others in the region warn that the planned European Union cuts could devastate economies that depend on the crop for jobs and exports.

"It's the equivalent of a hurricane slamming into the region and wiping out entire sugar crops — year after year," Ian McDonald, executive officer of the Sugar Association of the Caribbean, said of the EU plan. "The only difference is that you can recover from a hurricane."

The EU is planning to phase out preferential prices paid for Caribbean sugar by almost 40 percent over three years. The bloc says the cuts, which start next year, are necessary to bring agricultural subsidies closer to world prices.

The move was reinforced in April when the World Trade Organization sided with rival producers of Brazil, Australia and Thailand and ruled that EU subsidies for sugar producers broke international trade rules.

Caribbean officials say the subsidy cut — which will also affect former colonies in Africa and the Pacific — will cost the Caribbean up to $90 million annually and tens of thousands of jobs.

"It's too fast, too deep, and too soon," K.D. Knight, Jamaica's minister of foreign affairs and trade, said of the EU plan.

The EU is the largest buyer of Caribbean sugar, purchasing more than half the region's annual production of about 710,000 metric tons at prices more than four times the world average.

It's hard to overstate sugar's historical and economic importance in the Caribbean. Introduced to the region by the Dutch in the early 1600s, the crop was once known as "white gold" for its scarcity and high price.

The region soon became the world's leading sugar producer, enriching European colonists who brought in hundreds of thousands of slaves to reduce production costs. Prices began falling in the 19th century amid increased competition from European growers who derived sugar from beets.

The industry has decayed further in recent years due to poor crop yields and lack of investment. Today, the Caribbean produces about half its 1965 peak of 1.49 million tons.

Without preferential access to Europe, Caribbean producers will have to compete on the world market against No. 1 producer and exporter Brazil, which is looking to more than double its current sugar output.

"Nobody can compete with that," McDonald said. He said the WTO ruling offers "a marginal improvement for Brazil, but a mortal blow for us."

Earlier this month, the WTO ruled a new EU tariff on imported bananas is illegal, siding with nine Latin American countries. Caribbean officials say the move could mean Europe will be flooded with cheaper bananas from Latin America, squeezing small islands out of the market.