Harley workers are first casualties in trade war

This is of particular importance to motorcycle lovers, since Harley-Davidson made a decision to move some of its production overseas to avoid the new tariffs.

Increasing foreign investment in the United States, something Walker was in Washington advocating for at a U.S. Department of Commerce event last week, will also help reduce the trade imbalance and need for tariffs, he said.

European officials last week imposed stiff tariffs on a wide range of US -made goods sold within the European Union. These EU tariffs came in retaliation for steep tariffs that the Trump administration has imposed on the EU.

“Surprised that Harley-Davidson, of all companies, would be the first to wave the White Flag”, Trump said on Twitter.

Europe is Harley’s second biggest market outside the USA and sold nearly 40-thousand motorcycles in the Europe previous year.

Brown-Forman Corp., which also produces Woodford Reserve and other bourbons, will have to raise prices for its whiskey sold in the European Union following the implementation of a 25 per cent tariff, according to spokesman Phil Lynch.

So it plans to eat the cost of the tariffs – about $30 million to $45 million this year and $90 million to $100 million annually. The company, which is headquartered in Speaker Paul Ryan’s congressional district, is moving some production to Europe to avoid the tariffs.

“We are now assessing the potential impact on our USA facilities”, Harley-Davidson spokesperson Michael Pflughoeft told Bloomberg. The company’s USA factories are in York, Pa.; Kansas City, Mo., and Menomonee Falls, Wis.

And Europe is becoming more important to the company as sales in the United States slump. “Taxes just a Harley excuse – be patient!”

Citing the high costs of new European tariffs, Harley Davidson announced Monday it would move some of its United States motorcycle production overseas.

Harley-Davidson, stung by new tariffs, said it will shift some motorcycle production to factories outside the U.S. The motorcycle manufacturer said in a regulatory filing that it’s shifting production of motorcycles heading to Europe from the U.S.to overseas factories. Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, where Harley-Davidson is headquartered, says the goal should be no tariffs for anyone.

“We are now assessing the potential impact on our United States facilities”, Michael Pflughoeft, a company spokesman, said in an email.

Each motorcycle will cost about $2,200 more after the European Union raised its levies on imported USA bikes to 31 percent from 6 percent on June 22, the Milwaukee-based manufacturer said Monday in a regulatory filing.

“Harley-Davidson’s announcement today is the latest slap in the face to the loyal, highly-skilled workforce that made Harley an iconic American brand”, Robert Martinez Jr., president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said in a statement. He has events that day in Milwaukee, where Harley-Davidson has its headquarters, and Mount Pleasant.

Harley-Davidson’s stock, and the Dow Jones as a whole, dipped Monday morning as trade-war fears mounted.

Harley-Davidson said that shifting targeted production from the USA to worldwide facilities could take up to 18 months to be completed.