Joint Press Release by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economy - Revision of the Common External Tariff (CET)

During the meeting of the Common Market Council held on July 20th, Mercosur agreed to reduce by 10% the Common External Tariff (CET) rates for most of the tariff universe, subject to the exceptions already existing in the bloc.

This is an important step to increase the competitiveness of the bloc's countries and to strengthen regional production processes, in order to promote a beneficial insertion of Mercosur production in global value chains.

The understanding reached considers the different needs of the partners, demonstrating Mercosur's capacity to advance with constructive vocation towards updating and adapting its tariff structure to current regional and world trade conditions, in a balanced way with regard to the productive capacities of the bloc.

This is the first horizontal revision of the bloc's tariff structure since the CET was established in 1995. The measure applies to about 80% of the tariff universe and brings the tariff levels practiced by Brazil and other bloc members closer to the international average, especially by member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Mercosur countries also agreed to continue the work in the relevant bloc instances with a view to continuing with the CET revision.