Harley-Davidson is first: Bye, bye USA, Welcome in Europe

[bodie54]

So why didn't Trump have a cow back then? It wasn't until HD's announcement last week, which was compelled by the EU imposing crippling tariffs on american made motorcycles on June 20th, that he lost it, going so far as to threaten HD.
And where does he get off making such a threat?

 

[sean miguel]

So why didn't Trump have a cow back then? It wasn't until HD's announcement last week, which was compelled by the EU imposing crippling tariffs on american made motorcycles on June 20th, that he lost it, going so far as to threaten HD.
And where does he get off making such a threat?

because as Rey said, they are using these tariffs as cover. their business model is shit.

but yeah, I agree, Harley Davidson should do what's in THEIR best interest, consequences be damned.

I'm siding with President Trump on this issue like the liberals on the Supreme Court - based solely on his "motivation."

 

[RJS13]

The other thing you have failed to mention is that Harley's on the grand scheme of things are totally crap bikes.

Never seen one that didn't leak oil. Plus side= Your bike always has fresh oil.

 

[bodie54]

So are you ok with presidents threatening private companies?

I imagine HD's shareholders are none to pleased.

Amazon's either.

But The Donald must have his personal pound of flesh, no matter how irresponsibly attained.

 

[sean miguel]

So are you ok with presidents threatening private companies?

I imagine HD's shareholders are none to pleased.

Amazon's either.

But The Donald must have his personal pound of flesh, no matter how irresponsibly attained.

I'm not as smart as I pretend to be on here but doesn't the government (whether it's the president or congress) threaten private companies?

remember gibson guitar?

 

[Rey C.]

So are you ok with presidents threatening private companies?

I imagine HD's shareholders are none to pleased.

Amazon's either.

But The Donald must have his personal pound of flesh, no matter how irresponsibly attained.

I'm VERY much against his tendency to make everything personal and use his presidential powers to focus on one company (or industry). When Obama singled out coal, while trying to prop up failing solar companies, I was against that too. But I have to say, Trump is taking it to new levels in the way that he's conducting himself here. I'm just opposed to that kind of political favoritism, unless we're talking about preventing some sort of macro shock (the banks and autos back in 2007-09). But it shouldn't be based on who he feels his pals are or who's been nice to him. That's the kind of cronyism that I *thought* he was going to eliminate.

But yeah, Harley's management did try to play both ends of the table. I suspect that the tariff banter sped up the process, but plans for the production shift had been in place for awhile. The company that I just left worked for almost two years on shifting production to another state. I can only imagine how long Harley might have been working on shifting production to another continent.