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Trump’s trade tariffs: how protectionist US policies will hit German carmakers

‘Shifts in production’ expected if baseline tariffs on imported goods are imposed to benefit US auto manufacturing

In 1964 the new US president was angry about European trade. Specifically about chickens. In response to Europe’s poultry trade barriers, Lyndon B Johnson imposed a 25% tariff on light trucks.

That “chicken tax” is still in place 60 years later. The rules have contributed to the Ford’s F-Series pickup truck’s unbroken 42-year run as the bestselling vehicle in the US, and have locked European manufacturers out of a hugely profitable market for two generations. The chicken tax could also serve as a model for Donald Trump’s second term in the White House.

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