US president Donald Trump in a tweet expressed support for the eventual boycott of US motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson, the latest in a series of exchanges between the manufacturer and the president while the former reeled from the latter's imposition of additional tariffs on steel imports.
The imposition of tariffs has been hard on manufacturers like Harley-Davidson, contrary to the president's declaration on Twitter that 'Tariffs are great!" In reaction to this, Harley-Davidson revealed that it planned to move its operations to the European Union from the US to lessen the impact of the trade wars the Trump administration has created.
The president's reaction to this, Reuters reports, was to view it as a threat. In a tweet, the president bared plans to welcome competitors from Harley's market to open plants and sell to US clients. He also criticized the manufacturer for its move, calling for owners to continue boycotting the company as well as to slap targeted higher taxes on companies like Harley-Davidson that plan to move their operations elsewhere.
Trump's tweet mentioned that some owners planned to boycott Harley-Davidson, and that's what he got on Saturday. Some pro-Trump motorcycle riders visited him during his vacation in Bedminster, New Jersey. Pledging support for the president, they also said they were planning to boycott Harley-Davidson following its plans of moving its plants elsewhere.
Pressed for a comment following the president's tweet, CEO Matthew Levatich said in a comment on News Day that they still have the US market highest in their priority list of places to deliver to. It was only because they needed to support their ailing sales-made miserable by Trump's trade war tactics that they had to move to manufacture as well as sell more of their motorcycles elsewhere.
To justify their moves, Harley-Davidson had advanced forecasts on what the trade tariffs would cost them. A profit of about $30 million to $45 million would be lost in the amount needed to pay off the additional tax. If it went on a full year, the tariff would account for $90 million to $100 million of lost sales.
Other companies which Trump invited to overtake Harley-Davidson's position in US motorcycle sales included Japan's Honda Motor Co., Ltd. and Yamaha Corp., Europe's BMW and Ducati, as well as India's Hero MotorCorp. Ltd. And Bajaj Auto Ltd.
