#eu

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.

Harley-Davidson announced Monday it would move some of its production overseas to avoid a dramatic tariff increase imposed by the European Union. The EU tariff comes In response to the United States implementing a tax on aluminum and steel to several countries, including EU nations. The EU has responded in kind, levying a tariff on several American products. The most notable for the Motorcycle.com audience is the tariff on American motorcycles 500cc and larger. This is clearly targeted at Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson, though Indian Motorcycles (and parent company Polaris) will also be impacted. Electric motorcycles are not affected by this tariff, leaving Zero Motorcycles out of the conversation.

While we were all upset about the proposed tariff on 51–500cc European motorcycle imports, one MO reader, Sayyed Bashir, decided to do something about it. Taking it upon himself, Bashir created a petition on the White House website. According to the site, Bashir has taken the first step of a three step process. The second step must be completed by us – MO readers and general motorcyclists, alike – through the registration of 100,000 signatures within 30 days of the petition’s creation. After that, we can expect a response from the White House within 60 days.

In what appears to be a zombie-like resurrection of a formerly killed attempt from 2009, a proposal to impose a 100% tariff on European motorcycles between 51 – 500cc imported to the U.S. has risen from the dead and could result in, for example, a KTM RC390 costing a total of over $11,000 after the proposed tariff gets applied! The very same cost doubling would apply to any other motorcycle imported from the EU between 51 – 500cc if this tariff goes into effect. That Sword of Damocles would hand over a lot of exotic lightweight streetbikes, dirt bikes, Italian scooters, trials bikes, etc. It could prove quite catastrophic for major OEMs like KTM and Piaggio in addition to the other businesses that sell and service their products.