Trucks and Chickens

In 1963, in the midst of a dispute dubbed the "chicken war," LBJ imposed a hefty tariff on light trucks. Forty years later, having failed in its original purpose and with no other reason to exist, the truck tariff nonetheless persists. Dan Ikenson makes the case for killing it.

Comments

[TomHynes]

Does anybody pay the truck tarrif? I think they bring in the trucks without bed, add a U.S. made bed, and avoid the tarriff. In other words, it is just stupid, not an economic waste.

[Jim]

The article hit it on the head. They’re all built here now. Europe never sold any light trucks here anyway (I think Land Rovers and such are imported as cars, and pay a higher luxury tax anyway). Most European pickup truck sales go to Japanese companies such as Nissan and Toyota.

Of course, companies like Toyota and Isuzu build a lot of light trucks in Thailand now, perhaps a lift on the tariff will result in more sales imports from there. However as Ikenson correctly pointed out, the Japanese and other car makers (Korean and European) build cars in the US and/or on the continent anyway to be closer to their market. It might result in some additional competition because it would increase the options for imported product.

[Jim]

BTW Tom,

The scenario you describe probably existed prior to NAFTA. One of the people I went to high school with had the stupid job of putting radios into Suzuki Trackers (which are made in Canada) so the ‘final’ assembly point was the US. I guess they all came with radios as standard equipment, then. I think with NAFTA that situation no longer exists, at least with respect to Canada and Mexico. A large portion of ‘American’ cars come from Canada and Mexico.

[Keith]

It’s funny, earlier this week I was checking out Unimogs for sale for whenever I get around to having a toy car. First an aside- what a glorious vehicle. It eats a hummer alive on two important counts – offroad butchness and Mercedez-Benz bling-bling…

Anyhow, there’s a Unimog refurbisher in Germany who notes that if it’s a 4-seater, it generally can be imported with 2.5 tariff; if it has a crane attachment, it can probably be brought in with no tariff as a “rolling crane”, but if it’s a 2-seater, you can try to get it characterized as a passenger vehicle, but it could come in as a cargo vehicle and be subject to 25% tariff.

Man, I want the rolling crane:
http://www.classicunimogs.com/unimog_416_hiab650.html

[Bevan]

im Bevan and i dont like this gay homo site and where the fuck is renees chicken truck ???

[dickson]

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DICKSON