Washington.- Almost a third of the cigarettes consumed in America are smuggled, which resulted in losses of 8.5 billion dollars in tax revenue in 2025, with Brazil, Canada and Mexico being the countries with the greatest losses, according to a KPMG report presented at a meeting of the Americas Society/Council of the Americas (AS/COA) in Washington.
KPMG’s associate director, David Bird, presented this week the study ‘Illicit Cigarette Consumption in Latin America and Canada 2025’, which indicates that the region is a global focus for illicit tobacco consumption.
In the meeting, the conditions that allow these illicit activities to develop in the American continent were also analyzed, and attention was drawn to established cross-border supply chains, regulatory gaps, and the unequal ability of different territories to enforce the law.
“Illicit trade is often misinterpreted as a secondary or isolated problem. In reality, it sits at the intersection of some of the most pressing problems facing our region today,” said Susan Segal, president and CEO of AS/COA.
“Smuggling undermines the security of our communities and the strength of our economies,” declared Iván Arvelo, director of the National Center for the Coordination of Intellectual Property Rights.
Arvelo, in turn, advocated for a joint response to the problem “where government agencies and private sector partners share information and resources, allowing us to identify threats more quickly, disrupt illegal operations, and protect both people and businesses around the world.”
