customs union

American  

noun

1. an association of independent nations or tariff areas created to remove customs barriers between them and to adopt a uniform tariff policy toward nonmember nations.

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customs union British  

noun

1. an association of nations which promotes free trade within the union and establishes common tariffs on trade with nonmember nations

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Example Sentences

The EU earlier this month signed a free-trade agreement with the four South American countries that founded the Mercosur customs union, and last year it announced a trade and investment deal with Indonesia.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 27, 2026

The plan worked better than expected, and what began in 1951 as a six-country European customs union covering coal and steel evolved over decades into the EU.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 28, 2025

Asked whether he wanted to the UK to have a customs union with the EU, he said: "That's not currently our policy, that's not currently where we are."

From BBC • Dec. 9, 2025

The party's spokesperson for foreign affairs said "setting ourselves on an ambitious path towards a customs union is the best way to give some certainty to British businesses".

From BBC • May 18, 2025

The Kaiser had even talked of a continental customs union to meet American competition.

From Woodrow Wilson and the World War A Chronicle of Our Own Times. by Seymour, Charles