President Trump Responds To Harley-Davidson
President Trump has responded to Harley-Davidson’s decision to move some of its manufacturing overseas – a move triggered by the EU levying harsh tariffs on the Milwaukee-based motorcycle company.
In a series of tweets Tuesday, President Trump accused Harley-Davidson as intending to move production to Thailand long before the tariffs were ever imposed, and the trade war rumblings served as the perfect excuse to move.
“Early this year Harley-Davidson said they would move much of their plant operations in Kansas City to Thailand,” Trump said. “That was long before Tariffs were announced. Hence, they were just using Tariffs/Trade War as an excuse.”
Early this year Harley-Davidson said they would move much of their plant operations in Kansas City to Thailand. That was long before Tariffs were announced. Hence, they were just using Tariffs/Trade War as an excuse. Shows how unbalanced & unfair trade is, but we will fix it…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2018
Harley-Davidson is one of many manufacturers with plants in Thailand – Honda, Kawasaki, and Ducati just three, to name a few. Apart from the less expensive labor and manufacturing costs (which are reflected in the MSRP of said motorcycles), producing in Thailand not only avoids the increased EU tariffs, but also dodges Thailand’s charges of up to 60% on imported motorcycles.
To that end, if Harley-Davidson does indeed move some of its manufacturing to Thailand, President Trump has threatened The Motor Company won’t be able to sell back into the United States “without paying a big tax!”
….When I had Harley-Davidson officials over to the White House, I chided them about tariffs in other countries, like India, being too high. Companies are now coming back to America. Harley must know that they won’t be able to sell back into U.S. without paying a big tax!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2018
Lastly, President Trump has made his position on Harley-Davidson clear, stating that none of the company’s motorcycles should ever be built outside the US.
A Harley-Davidson should never be built in another country-never! Their employees and customers are already very angry at them. If they move, watch, it will be the beginning of the end – they surrendered, they quit! The Aura will be gone and they will be taxed like never before!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2018
As of press time, Harley-Davidson has not responded to any of President Trump’s tweets.
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oh, he's still running his mouth over this, new horse poop every day. he'll never stop, no matter the outcome, he'll be yammering about it for months. as if he gives a damn about HD, this country, or it's citizens. anybody still buying what that sick bastard is selling has got some hard lessons to learn - trouble is, by that time it may be too late for all of us.
One good thing about all of this is that now motorcycle buyers might start looking at Harleys for the mechanical qualities (and the lack thereof) which they possess, instead of a two wheeled version of the American flag. If that happens, Harley-Davidson will need to engineer motorcycles which can offer competitive performance with what the best of the rest of the world produces. They haven't done that for more than half a century.