Brazil Tire Import Tax Rises to 30%: What Gecex Resolution 978/2026 Changes

Brazil Tire Import Tax Rises to 30%: What Gecex Resolution 978/2026 Changes

The Brazil tire import tax on new passenger-car tires (NCM 4011.10.00) has been 30% since November 10, 2026, under Gecex Resolution No. 978 of November 6, 2026. The rate applies until November 9, 2027 and, for part of these tires, it is charged on top of antidumping duties already imposed on certain Asian origins.

The measure has been reported as a "surcharge," but it is not an antidumping duty. It is a temporary increase in the import tax itself, allowed by Mercosur rules for exceptions to the Common External Tariff (the tariff that Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay apply to goods from outside the bloc). The two instruments coexist, are calculated differently and are challenged through different channels. Anyone who imports, distributes or buys tires in volume has to read them together.

How the Brazil tire import tax reached 30%

The resolution, published in the Diário Oficial da União (Brazil's Official Gazette) on November 9, 2026, amended Resolução Gecex nº 272/2021 to create Annex XI, the Temporary List of Exceptions to the Common External Tariff for Adaptation to the New International Context, known as Letec+, under article 2 of Decision No. 01/25 of the Mercosur Common Market Council. Article 4 added to that annex NCM code 4011.10.00 (the eight-digit Mercosur customs classification), covering tires of the type used on passenger cars, including station wagons and racing cars, at 30% between November 10, 2026 and November 9, 2027. The standard tariff for these tires is 16%.

The same act moved products from the traditional exceptions list (Annex V) to Letec+, keeping their rates and terms, and set December 31, 2028 as the last date for using the new list. Article 4 also added three paper codes (NCM 4810), at 16% and 20%, and code 2916.12.30 (butyl), at 20% from December 5, 2026 to December 4, 2027. Gecex, the Executive Management Committee of the Foreign Trade Chamber (Camex), publishes its resolutions on the Camex portal of the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services.

The increase did not come from nowhere. Passenger-car tires had carried an elevated rate for two years, with a short gap in which they returned to the standard tariff:

The legal basis is long established. The import tax is a regulatory tax, and the National Tax Code allows the Executive Branch to change its rates, within the conditions and limits set by law, to adjust it to exchange-rate and foreign trade policy (article 21 of the National Tax Code). That is why the change is made by a Gecex resolution rather than by statute.

Import tax and antidumping duty are different instruments

The import tax is a percentage of the customs value of the goods and applies to any origin. An antidumping duty is charged in addition, normally as a fixed amount per kilogram (US$/kg), only on the origins investigated and at different levels for each foreign producer. It exists only after an investigation by the Department of Trade Defense (Decom) of the Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex), under Decree No. 8,058/2013, which requires proof of dumping, of injury to the domestic industry and of a causal link between the two. The measure lasts up to five years and can be extended in an end-of-period review.

In practice, the increase to 30% reaches every passenger-car tire imported from outside Mercosur, of any rim size and any country. The antidumping duties on passenger-car tires have a much narrower scope than many assume. They cover radial tires of series 65 and 70, rims of 13 and 14 inches and width designations 165, 175 and 185, and only when made in China, Thailand and Chinese Taipei (collection from the last is suspended).

A 14-inch tire made in China within those specifications pays both charges. A 17-inch tire made in the same country, or a 14-inch tire made in Vietnam, is not covered by those antidumping measures and pays the 30% import tax plus the other import taxes. The difference is easy to miss in analyses that treat "imported tires" as a single block.

Measures in force on imported tires

The table below gathers the measures found in the published resolutions. The antidumping amounts are examples by producer and do not exhaust each resolution's list. Whether a specific item is covered depends on the product description in the act, not only on the NCM code.

The suspensions for Chinese Taipei and Japan were not decided on public interest grounds. They use a mechanism different from the antidumping regulation's public interest test, applied when there is doubt about how imports will evolve: the duty is extended but its collection is suspended, and it can resume if imports grow again in volumes capable of causing injury.

For truck and bus tires, the review of the measures against China, South Korea, Japan and Thailand is under way. The review concerning China was opened by SECEX Circular No. 20 of March 19, 2026, and SECEX Circular No. 94 of October 9, 2026 extended the deadline to conclude the procedure to twelve months. While the review runs, the duties continue to be collected. The import tax on truck and bus tires did not change; in 2024, Gecex rejected a request to raise the rate on these products.

What it adds to the cost of an import

An example helps size the effect. The figures below are hypothetical and serve only to show the mechanics: a lot of 1,000 14-inch tires within the antidumping scope, made by GITI in China, with a customs value of US$ 30 and a weight of 7 kg per unit.

• Import tax at 30%: US$ 9.00 per tire. At 25% it would be US$ 7.50; at the 16% standard tariff, US$ 4.80.
• Antidumping duty: 7 kg multiplied by US$ 1.31, or US$ 9.17 per tire.
• Both charges together: US$ 18.17 per tire, about 60% of the customs value, or US$ 18,170 for the lot.

Compared with the 25% period, the increase is US$ 1.50 per tire. Compared with the 16% window, which ran from October 17 to November 9, 2026, it is US$ 4.20 per tire.

The effect does not stop there. The import tax is part of the tax base of the federal excise tax on industrialized products (IPI) on imports (article 47, I, "a", of the National Tax Code) and of ICMS, the state tax on goods, on imports (article 13, V, "b", of Complementary Law No. 87/1996). Each additional percentage point of import tax therefore raises those taxes too. The full calculation depends on the tariff classification, the destination state and the company's tax regime, so it is not included in the example. More of the firm's material on import taxation is collected at okumurasa.com.br/en/insights, and the practice areas are on the firm's website.

What importers and buyers should review now

For importers and distributors, the first point is the date. For import tax, the taxable event is deemed to occur on the date the import declaration is registered (article 23 of Decree-Law No. 37/1966). Goods registered up to November 9, 2026 followed the 16% rate; goods registered from November 10 pay 30%, even if they were already shipped or stored before. Goods in a bonded warehouse or in transit deserve a specific calculation.

The second point is contractual. Supply and distribution contracts with a fixed price, or with adjustment tied only to an inflation or exchange-rate index, may leave the whole increase with the importer. It is worth checking whether there is a pass-through clause for changes in taxes, how it defines "tax" (an antidumping duty, strictly speaking, is not a tax) and what notice period is required to adjust the price list.

The third is customs compliance. With charges that vary by rim, series, width, origin and producer, the description in the declaration has to be accurate. Classification or origin errors lead to assessment of the difference, with a fine. And sudden changes of supplier to countries neighboring those already targeted draw attention: Brazil has already extended antidumping duties to third countries on other products, as it did with Malaysian windshields in Resolução Gecex nº 832/2025, on the finding that there was an attempt to circumvent the original measure.

Finally, there is the calendar. The 30% rate expires on November 9, 2027, and any extension will depend on a new Gecex decision. The review of the truck and bus tire measures should be concluded within the period extended by SECEX Circular No. 94/2026. Affected companies, including users such as carriers and fleet operators, can follow these proceedings and, when admitted as interested parties, submit data and arguments. The antidumping regulation itself provides for a public interest assessment, and that assessment tends to weigh more when the user chain brings concrete information to the case.

Frequently asked questions

Is the increase to 30% an antidumping duty?

No. It is a temporary increase in the import tax rate, made by including NCM code 4011.10.00 in Letec+. The antidumping duty is a separate charge, specific to origin and producer, which remains in force for tires within the scope of its own resolutions.

Were truck and bus tires affected?

Not by Gecex Resolution 978/2026. These tires fall under a different code (NCM 4011.20.90) and keep the previous rate. They remain subject to the antidumping duties on China, South Korea and Thailand, which are under review, and to the suspended duty on Japan.

Does a Chinese passenger-car tire always pay both charges?

Only if it falls within the antidumping scope: radial, series 65 or 70, 13" or 14" rims and width designations 165, 175 or 185. Outside those specifications, it pays the 30% import tax and the other import taxes, without the antidumping duty of those resolutions.

How long does the 30% rate last?

Until November 9, 2027. Letec+ can be used until December 31, 2028, but keeping the rate after November 2027 will require a new Gecex decision.

For an assessment of your specific situation, the firm can be reached at contato@okumurasa.com.br.

Legal sources checked on November 10, 2026. This article is for information only and does not replace advice on specific facts.