BUSINESS/EU/TARIFFS/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump lashed out at one of his favorite American manufacturers on Tuesday [6-26-18], criticizing Harley-Davidson over its plans to move some of its motorcycle production abroad and threatening it with steep punitive taxes. In a series of tweets on Tuesday, the president accused the Wisconsin-based company of surrendering in Mr. Trump’s trade war with Europe and said the firm would lose its ‘aura’ if it produced bikes overseas. ‘If they move, watch, it will be the beginning of the end — they surrendered, they quit!’ he wrote. ‘The Aura will be gone and they will be taxed like never before!’ The attack came a day after Harley-Davidson announced that it would move some of its production abroad in response to stiff retaliatory tariffs that the European Union imposed in response to Mr. Trump’s trade measures. Rather than raise prices to cover the new 31 percent tariff on bikes it exports to the European Union, Harley said it would shift some of its production to overseas facilities to avoid the tariffs.”
-Alan Rappeport, “Harley-Davidson Plan to Move Production Abroad Draws Tax Threat From Trump,” The New York Times online, June 26, 2018