WSJ on the 1963 chicken tax

Nothing is more American than the pickup truck. One big reason why: the “chicken tax.”

The U.S. has imposed a 25% tariff on imported trucks ever since President Lyndon Johnson hit back at European levies on American poultry in 1963, less than two weeks after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

As the Trump administration pursues a barrage of new tariffs, the longstanding tax on pickup trucks bears witness to the power of high duties to reshape global trade, competition and industry over decades, with effects far exceeding their original purpose.

Like today’s tensions, the dispute that became known as the “chicken war” was punctuated by worries about the trade deficit, accusations of protectionism and threats to cut Europe loose from America’s defense umbrella. 

~ Stephen Wilmot, "The 1960s ‘Chicken Tax’ Shows the Lasting Impact of Tariffs: Imported pickups have long incurred a 25% tariff, keeping production within North America but raising little revenue for Washington," The Wall Street Journal, March 19, 2025

In the 1980s, Subaru imported a small pickup that circumvented a 25% tariff on trucks because it had two backward-facing seats bolted to the open bed.