this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2025
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The last tariff I personally remember was the 1983 motorcycle tariff signed by Reagan. The Yamaha Virago was seen as such a threat to Harley-Davidson that they pushed for and got a tariff imposed on imported motorcycles over 700ccs engine displacement. Yamaha's answer was to reduce the engine displacement from 750 to 699cc. The 250cc Virago is still in production today, though they install a straighter handlebar on it and call it a "V-Star 250."
I feel like those 80s motorcycle tariffs are why the US motorcycle industry is so uncompetitive today. In the 80s, HD got fat my making bikes that wouldn't be viable anywhere else in the world. HD didn't have to compete because tariffs guaranteed their market. Meanwhile Honda, Yamaha,. Kawasaki, Suzuki were developing a lean, lightweight model, we saw the convergent evolution of the Universal Japanese Motorcycle and lean production processes. It was specifically those tariffs that made the big 4 what they are today - basically unstoppable.
Targeted tariffs are regularly used for specific reasons. We just don’t normally go all AoE with tariffs.