America removes tariffs on Japanese bikes
The 2.4 percent tariff for bikes over 700cc will be removed following the signing of the Pacific trade pactAmerica will remove a tariff levied on Japanese motorcycles with engine displacements of over 700cc under the recently announced Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact (TPP), which includes Australia and covers 40 percent of the global economy.
The 2.4 percent duty will be eliminated five years after the multilateral trade deal takes effect, which should, in theory, reduce the price of motorcycles in the over 700cc space in America, placing the imported fare on the same level playing field as home-grown marques like Harley-Davidson, Indian and Victory. Those marques mainly focus on bikes with engine capacities of more than 700cc.
America imposes no tariff on imported motorbikes with engines of 700cc or lower, while Australia doesn't impose any tariffs on Japanese motorcycles.
Japanese motorcycle makers are trying to beef up sales in America and Asian markets to offset flagging demand in Japan, where sales dropped to about 410,000 units in 2014 from a peak of 3.28 million in 1982.
Among the other 12-member nations of the TPP, Vietnam will remove tariffs of 83 percent to 85 percent on Japanese motorbikes in eight years’ time.
Other members of the TPP include Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru and Singapore.
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