The Golden Gimmick refers to a foreign tax credit

Foreign tax credit

Income tax systems that tax residents on worldwide income generally offer a foreign tax credit to mitigate the potential for double taxation. The credit may also be granted in those systems taxing residents on income that may have been taxed in another jurisdiction...

 deal enacted in November 1950 by the US Government under president Harry Truman between King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...

 and the Arabian-American Oil Company (ARAMCO), a consortium comprising Standard Oil of California (Socal), Standard Oil of New Jersey (Exxon), Standard Oil of New York (Mobil) and Texaco. King Ibn Saud was being influenced by Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo

Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo

Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonso , was a prominent Venezuelan diplomat, politician and lawyer primarily responsible for the inception and creation of OPEC.-Early career:...

 of Venezuela who cut a similar 50/50 deal with Jersey Standard Oil

Standard Oil

Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...

 and Royal Dutch Shell

Royal Dutch Shell

Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...

. This 50/50 deal accorded the American oil companies a tax break

Tax break

Tax break is a slang term referring to any item which reduces tax, including any tax exemption, tax deduction, or tax credit. Tax break is also a pejorative term used in the United States to refer to purportedly favorable tax treatment of any class of persons, as in "individuals get a tax break...

 equivalent to 50% of their profits on oil sales, the other 50% was diverted to King Ibn Saud via the US Treasury. The King agreed to this 50/50 splitting of Aramco's oil profits instead of nationalizing Aramco's oil facilities on Saudi soil. Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

 eventually led the effort in forming OPEC

OPEC

OPEC is an intergovernmental organization of twelve developing countries made up of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. OPEC has maintained its headquarters in Vienna since 1965, and hosts regular meetings...

and Saudi Arabia gained full control of Aramco by 1980.