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“A company that is as connected to America, and Americana, as Harley is probably going to be laying off U.S. workers in favor of foreign workers and going to be losing money as a result of this,” James Hardiman, an equity research analyst with Wedbush Securities, said by phone from New York. “There’s a lot of irony here, to put it mildly.”

Harley didn’t specify which international plants will boost output for EU markets. The company operates manufacturing facilities in Brazil, India and Australia, and is beginning production in Thailand this year.

“We are currently assessing the potential impact on our U.S. facilities,” Michael Pflughoeft, a company spokesman, said in an email. “We are hopeful the U.S. and EU governments will continue to work together to reach an agreement on trade issues and rescind these tariffs.”

Harley estimated facing US$30 million to US$45 million in costs linked to the tariffs for the remainder of 2018. Analysts project the company will earn about US$591 million this year on US$5 billion of revenue.

Harley estimated that ramping up output in international plants for the EU may take at least nine to 18 months. While the company said it’s committed to making motorcycles in the U.S., it suggested it has no other choice but to move production from its home market. The company sold almost 40,000 bikes in Europe last year, and the continent’s share of total deliveries was the highest since 2011.

“Increasing international production to alleviate the EU tariff burden is not the company’s preference, but represents the only sustainable option to make its motorcycles accessible to customers in the EU and maintain a viable business in Europe,” the company said in the filing.