Since the 1980s, developing countries have been implementing radical reforms to increase their competitiveness in the global economy. While the increased export orientation has had positive effects on economic growth in many countries, it has also left them susceptible to external attempts to influence domestic regulatory standards. In this article, we explore a specific case that illustrates how domestic actors cope with such external pressures for regulatory reforms. We examine how domestic policymakers received the European Union's import ban on natural honey produced in Brazil and the actions they took in an attempt to have the ban lifted. The import ban triggered the creation of a new institution, the Honey Chamber, which helped to coordinate the interests of different sectoral actors, thereby helping to overcome institutional fragmentation. Once established, the new institution facilitated the revision of the existing regulatory standards and paved the way for the more‐rigorous monitoring of residues in honey.