Is The 'Chicken Tax' On The Chopping Block? Trade Deals Could See More Small ... - International Business Times

Massive trade deals the U. S. is negotiating with Pacific Rim nations and the European Union will have wide-ranging implications, from making regulations more favorable to transnational corporate activities to dismantling protective trade... After Congress last week granted President Barack Obama fast-track authority to expedite the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), removing a 52-year-old import tax on foreign-made SUVs, pickup... Though it could take years to phase out the tariff once these trade deals are settled, the removal of the tax would open the way for an influx of cheaper foreign-made light trucks, a bitter pill U. S. automakers would swallow in return for... In 1963, the so-called “chicken tax” imposed a 25 percent import duty on foreign-made light trucks in a retaliatory measure against West Germany and France after they imposed high tariffs on U. S. poultry imports. Small foreign-made pickup trucks have borne the brunt of the tariff’s effect because they aren’t as profitable as larger light trucks. Source: www.ibtimes.com