Donald Trump fires back at Harley’s decision to move production

Bruno Gomes

June 27, 2018

The Trade War between the United States and Europe is proving to be very difficult to handle by everyone involved in this process, and it’s even harder for the brands that need to do business in the US or Europe.

One of those brands is Harley-Davidson, who just announced they would move part of their production of motorcycles outside the US, to avoid the new taxes imposed by the European Union over American products.

President Donald Trump wasted no time to fire back at Harley-Davidson, and making use of his favorite social network, Twitter, Trump threatens Harley with new taxes so that “they won’t be able to sell back into U.S. without paying a big tax!” Trump said in a tweet Tuesday.

….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

Harley-Davidson also confirmed they won’t be moving production into Europe, but instead they will be making an effort in the existing plants they have in Brazil, Australia, India and especially in Thailand.

Harley-Davidson’s CEO, Matt Levatich, says that by producing in Thailand, for example, the American manufacturer is able to avoid the taxes on imported motorcycles that can go up to 60% in Thailand, and that Harley bikes produced there are also able to be sold in other southeast Asian markets with lower taxes.