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| By IFCAR (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons |
In the early 1960s, several European countries imposed tariffs on chickens from the USA. As a result, one of the first things Lyndon Johnson did when he was sworn in as President was to sign a bill authorizing retaliatory tariffs against foreign countries on the importation of brandy, industrial starches, dextrin (used in envelope glue), and finally, a 25% tariff on foreign-made pickup trucks. The tax on trucks was intended primarily to suppress the importation of Volkswagen light trucks, as Germany was one of the prime chicken tariff offenders, but the law applied to trucks from all foreign countries.
Thoughout the 1960s, foreign pickups were much smaller (and more fuel efficient) than American-made trucks but, because of the tariff, cost nearly the same. Gas was cheap and plentiful, so there was no incentive to purchase a foreign truck, and very few persons did so.
However, after the gas crisis started in 1973, small trucks suddenly became more desirable. Subaru, in an attempt to crack the US market, imported a vehicle called a "Brat." which was a small truck with two plastic chairs in the bed. Because of the additional seating, the vehicle was legally classified as a passenger car and could be imported without paying the tariff. Most purchasers would then take five minutes to unbolt the chairs, discard them, and then be the proud owner of a normal small pickup truck. A few demented souls (and I personally know one of them) would insist that a seat is a seat and that a passenger should be happy to sit out in the bed in 40 degree rain while the truck was going 70 MPH down the interstate.
The tariff is pretty much of a joke these days, as foreign manufacturers now actually make the trucks in USA factories or, in some cases, import them with the bed separated from the rest of the vehicle (thus making them only truck components, which are not subject to the tariff) and then bolting the bed on after it passes through Customs.
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