The 1960s Chicken Tariff You May Have Forgotten About

When you hear the words "chicken war," you may laugh, thinking of a couple of chickens fighting for a rooster's attention. But the chicken war was actually a serious trade conflict between the United States and the European Economic Community (EEC) in the early 1960s. The murmurs of conflict began when the U.S. dramatically increased its chicken exports to Western Europe in the late 1950s. American poultry farmers, benefitting from industrial-scale farming and low production costs, found eager markets in countries like West Germany and France.

But European farmers couldn't compete with the cheaper American chicken flooding their markets, and domestic producers began lobbying for their government's protection. In 1962, the EEC (led by France and Germany) responded by imposing significant tariffs on imported poultry from the United States. The stated reason was to protect European farmers from unfair competition. Even today, the European Union protects its food heritage. This was the trigger to the "chicken war," with the move being widely seen in Washington as a protectionist measure that violated the spirit of free trade agreements.

At the time, the U.S. was exporting over $26 million worth of chicken to West Germany alone — a substantial economic blow when the tariffs took effect. The United States responded swiftly, with the Kennedy administration initiating consultations and protests, arguing discrimination, but to no effect. So, by 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson started looking for ways to apply pressure on the EEC without escalating the dispute into a full-blown trade war. The result was a carefully targeted set of tariffs on specific European exports to the U.S. that came into effect in 1964.

President Johnson's response was both symbolic and tactical. Instead of broadly targeting European goods, his administration focused on select, high-visibility items. Among the most notable were light trucks (particularly the Volkswagen Type 2 "bus"), brandy, potato starch, and dextrin. These goods were chosen not only for their economic relevance to Europe but also for their political sensitivity. For example, the 25% tariff on light trucks directly affected West Germany's booming auto industry, while those on brandy hit France, the home of Cognac.

The most lasting of these retaliatory measures was the 25% tariff on imported light trucks, otherwise known as the "chicken tax." This tariff dramatically impacted companies like Volkswagen, which had been exporting large numbers of its small vans to the U.S. market. The light truck tariff was originally intended as a temporary measure, but over time, this specific tax outlived the original dispute, staying in effect for decades and reshaping the U.S. auto market by protecting domestic truck manufacturers from foreign competition.

While some European leaders decried the retaliatory tariffs as disproportionate, Johnson's administration framed them as essential to defending American economic interests — and, in some cases, they were. American car manufacturers benefitted from lower competition from their European competitors, but global car manufacturers looked for (and found) creative ways to strategically avoid the tariffs — not unlike some global appliance brands today. These included building production facilities in the U.S. and employing what was called tariff engineering, where they would import passenger vans and convert them into cargo vehicles after arrival. These loopholes were eventually closed as U.S. customs finally twigged onto these measures.

Though the immediate chicken tariff dispute did not escalate into a full-scale trade war, it remained a lingering sore spot in transatlantic relations throughout the 1960s. Diplomatic negotiations continued behind the scenes, but no formal resolution was ever achieved. The EEC's poultry tariffs remained largely in place, and the U.S. retaliatory tariffs stayed intact. However, by the early 1970s, the urgency around the dispute had faded. Global trade negotiations shifted focus to broader economic issues, such as oil, steel, and currency realignment.

Interestingly, while the other retaliatory tariffs were eventually repealed, the 25% tariff on light trucks endured. The "chicken tax" has had lasting implications on the U.S. auto industry. In fact, it has been cited as a factor in the dominance of American-made pickup trucks in the domestic market, and it remains part of U.S. trade law as of the 2020s.

In hindsight, the chicken war was a relatively mild conflict in economic terms, but it set important precedents. It showed that even seemingly minor products — like frozen poultry — can become flashpoints in international relations. It also underscored the importance of diplomacy, flexibility, and long-term vision in managing global trade tensions. While many of the tariffs may have faded from public memory (and grocery prices have shifted considerably since then), the political and economic patterns they established continue to shape U.S.-European trade relations to this day.