ZEENAT MOORAD: Harley’s Trump card
As a quintessentially American company, Harley-Davidson’s moving production from its home market is the height of irony
The White House, we know, is waging several trade wars — all at the same time. Caught in the crossfire of its protectionist trade policy are, at last count: China, Canada, Mexico and the EU. A cascade of retaliatory tariffs has meant US companies — some of which make peanut butter, others that make jeans or bourbon — are now having to navigate the tensions of President Donald Trump’s trade skirmishes with major trading partners. As a listed company, American motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson was obliged this week to count the costs of Trump’s trade policies. Tariffs of 31% (up from 6%) that the EU enacted last week on its motorcycles would raise the cost of each bike it ships there from the US by about $2,200. The company’s response: to shift some production (and, by extension, jobs) out of the US. For context, Harley-Davidson sold close to 40,000 bikes in Europe last year, and the continent’s share of total deliveries was the highest for the company since 2011. Remember that ...
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