If you are like me and tired of pickup trucks costing $60,000 a pop, you can partly blame the Good Ol’ Southern Boy President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Less than two weeks after the assassination of JFK, LBJ retaliated against a European tariff on chickens with a 25% levy on imported light trucks in 1963. The tariff has become known as the “Chicken Tax.”

Thanks in large part to the Chicken Tax and auto lobbyists, almost all trucks sold in the United States are built in North America (not necessarily the USA, though). Most of these vehicles are made by American companies or brands: GM, Ford, and the owner of RAM, Stellantis North America. (RELATED: The Cost Of A Full-Size Pickup Truck Has Gotten Way Out Of Hand)

Of course, no foreign company wanted to pay the Chicken Tax, and some resorted to loopholes and workarounds. In the 1980s, Subaru imported its Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter, also known as a BRAT, but added two seats in the bed so it couldn’t be taxed as a “truck.” Mercedes-Benz imports Sprinter Van parts and then assembles them in a South Carolina factory, dodging the tax.

2nd December 1963: American President Lyndon Baines Johnson addresses the nation on his first Thanksgiving Day television program, broadcast from the executive offices........

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