Another American company could make the jump abroad to avoid new tariffs

Looks like Indian might join the “Let’s move production overseas to save money” movement, possibly following in the steps of Harley-Davidson. Looks like the new policy on European tariffs might end up costing more jobs than the administration had anticipated.

The US is on the brink of entering a trade war with its closest commercial allies, slapping Canada and the European Union with steep tariffs on, among other things, their steel and aluminum exports. The countries retaliated with equally steep tax increases on the American exports which, for the European market, includes American-made motorcycles.

To avoid having to increase their prices abroad in a market that already pays a steep price for imports, Harley-Davidson announced last week that it was considering moving some of its production to overseas factories. Thing is, H-D isn’t the only company caught in the middle of the tariffs conflict. Just a few days only after the Motor Company's announcement, Indian Motorcycle released a similar statement.

Indian is looking to move some of its production from Iowa to Poland. Just like its competitor, the company is looking for ways to mitigate the increase in taxes. Harley-Davidson estimated that the new tariff would mean having to increase pricing by up to $2,200 in Europe. Indian's parent company Polaris hasn’t released an official number yet, but it had already calculated that before the new tariffs and they were on target to increase their expenses by $15 million.

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President Trump has already been vocal—in 280 characters or less—about H-D’s announcement. For both companies, the decision isn’t set in stone - at the moment, it feels more like a threat than an actual plan of action. This bold move by the two icons would represent the loss of hundreds of American jobs.

Source: Star Tribune