H-D Forum Members Talk Harley & Tariffs

By S.J. Bryan - June 29, 2018

It’s been a busy news week for H-D, and our forum responds with opinions about Harley’s move and the future of the company.

When Harley-Davidson announced that the company would be moving some of its production overseas to combat high tariffs, there was obviously a lot of strong opinions. The decision was reportedly made after the Trump Administration announced levies on European steel and aluminum imports, and the European Union announced tariffs placed on U.S. products, specifically citing the Milwaukee-based motorcycle company. Our forums were on fire with opinions about Harley-Davidson’s decision and the company’s future. The conversations that ensued brought about a very passionate and very enlightening discourse.

Obviously there were two major camps of thought. The first was that consumers are angry, frustrated, and disappointed with Harley. The other prevailing commentary was that Harley-Davidson had few options to stay afloat with the tariffs in place. Let’s face it, it’s a lot to unpack, but our forum members helped shed some light on where they stand.

YamaHarley commented on the reality of the “Made in the USA” prestige.

“Harley hasn’t been able to use the ‘Made in USA’ since the mid ’90s. They can only say ‘Assembled in the USA’ since then, and now that may be a issue.“

Iyork felt that Harley’s move was premature, and that ultimately the tariffs might help the market.

“Give it time, the scales are tipping back our way, and its been an immense process to even get the scale to budge our way.”

Ultra_RB said that in this game of politics and tariffs, the people that seem to lose out are the consumers.

“I get what Trump is trying to do, but I don’t think he’s going about it in the right way. All this radical tariff stuff is doing is destabilizing the marketplace. If the tariffs were brought in on a slower and more graduated timeline and only in some strategic sectors, they might be helpful. However, slapping on dramatic news event-worthy tariffs does nothing but disrupt trade on both sides of the borders…

“Right now the only ones winning on this are the governments that are collecting the tariffs. For instance, U.S. puts a 25% tariff on steel, Canada puts on the same tariff. So, in the end, it’s a push. However, the two governments are collecting a $hitload of cash off the tariffs. And the costs will eventually get passed on to you and me. In the end we as consumers lose again “

Rhager Baumer injected some common sense into the conversation, pointing out that above all else, riders want quality.

“Harley is free to run their business anyway they want to. Free market. I am against tariffs and protectionism in general–the market will sort these things out.

“If building bikes overseas increases the quality of the bikes, I’m all for it. Has anyone else noticed that just about every fastener you remove is stripped at the bottom? Sloppy manufacturing. “

MJWebb also expanded on the idea that Harley needs to restructure to keep alive.

“H-D is doing what they believe they need to in order to remain profitable enough to survive like others. They aren’t doing well enough for me to ever consider buying their stock…investor confidence, not so much. I’m rooting for them to keep the train rolling, and cleaning up some QC issues might go a long ways towards sales figure increases.“

Tbob pointed out that Harley-Davidson anxiety was already an issue before the tariffs.

“Harley has bigger issues than a tax. The bikes aren’t selling very well. Just got back from a trip out west and the dealers we stopped at all said sales are really slow.”

AlexObelix seemed to sum up the entire situation very nicely.