Harley-Davidson and Indian could be facing a tough sales climate after the European Union revealed plans to increase duties on a range of American imports in response to Washington’s new tariffs on EU metal exports.
Last week, the Trump administration withdrew the exemptions given to the steel and aluminum imports from the EU, Canada and Mexico from global tariffs that it imposed in March citing national security concerns.
The EU is seeing red, and has taken its gripes to the World Trade Organisation, which includes a list of goods it will target with retaliatory measures – with big American motorcycles included, as well as a bevy of other products.
“We support free and fair trade and hope for a quick resolution to this issue,” Harley-Davidson said in a statement. “We believe a punitive, retaliatory tariff on Harley-Davidson motorcycles in any of our major markets would have a significant impact on our sales, our dealers, our suppliers and our customers in those markets.”
In the meantime, both Harley-Davidson and Indian’s bean counters will undoubtedly be crunching numbers hard in the background.