Did the the Chicken Tax destroy America, and lead to Trump's tariffs?
Since the 1960s America has taxed light trucks being imported. Because America didn't have to build light trucks to compete internationally they lost the international market on light trucks. Now nobody wants to buy American cars and trucks because they are not as good as what others countries build. So now America has put up high tariffs to make itself even more isolationist, since they can't compete.
We've been making our trucks bigger, heavier and shittier for decades because of a law that says the bigger the truck, the more it's allowed to pollute. And by god, do we love to pollute. Nobody else in the world is interested in that shit.
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/24139147/suvs-trucks-popularity-federal-policy-pollution
Yep - I was liking the F150 Lightning for several reasons but decided against it for 2 reasons:
The new ranger is bigger in every dimension than the 1999 F-150
Unfortunately those fucking stupid US trucks are becoming more popular in Germany too.
Cafe standards with the "work" vehicle loophole.
The laws state that regular cars need to meet many regulations, while trucks are exempt from them. So trucks got larger. And without competition from foreign trucks, they got even larger.
Trucks have regulations, but skirt requirements the larger they are, so guess what.
https://youtu.be/azI3nqrHEXM
I watched a lot of these, I think this is the one with the best details.
In the South it seems like a lot of people still want to buy American cars and trucks (maybe esp. American trucks), even though I think they're garbage 😅 Hard to imagine arguing that people don't want a Ford F-150 where I live, tbh