The object of this paper is to assess the political viability of the Common External Tariff of the Andean Community by examining how it responds to the demand for protection in the five Andean countries. Using industrial and trade data, we apply the findings of the literature on the political economy of trade policy to determine the demand for protection of different industries across the five countries. Despite dissimilarities in the industrial and commercial structure across countries, we find a high level of coincidence among sectors requesting highest levels of protection. Nonetheless, it appears that the level of protection negotiated is being carried out at the cost of the single countries’ liberalization processes.