A small South American country's exporting a Yankee vegetable (9)
I believe the answer is:
asparagus
'vegetable' is the definition.
(I know that asparagus is a type of vegetable)
'a small south american country's exporting a yankee' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'a' is within the answer.
'small' could be 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size) and 's' is present in the answer.
'south' could be 's' (synonyms) and 's' is found within the answer.
'american' could be 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names) and 'a' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for asparagus that I've seen before include "Succulent edible shoots" , "Food" , "cat in dramatic situation" , "Plant with edible spears" , "Plant with edible shoots" .)