Trump says Harley-Davidson boycott would be 'great'

Jesse Garza | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Show Caption Hide Caption President Donald Trump takes Harley-Davidson to task for production leaving country President Donald Trump told Harley-Davidson to keep its production in the United States.

President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday that it's "great" some Harley-Davidson motorcycle owners plan to halt future purchases of the bike in response to plans by the Milwaukee-based company to move some production overseas.

Many @harleydavidson owners plan to boycott the company if manufacturing moves overseas. Great! Most other companies are coming in our direction, including Harley competitors. A really bad move! U.S. will soon have a level playing field, or better. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2018

Trump's 6 a.m. tweet followed a New York Times story Saturday that quotes several Harley owners attending the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, who say they are angry with the company, which plans to move production of motorcycles destined for the European Union to its international factories in response to tariffs the EU has imposed on its bikes.

Harley has said the impact of the 31 percent tariffs, up from 6 percent previously, could be $100 million per year on the company, or roughly $2,200 per motorcycle.

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The EU tariffs on $3.4 billion worth of U.S. products are in retaliation for duties Trump has imposed on European steel and aluminum.

Wisconsin Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin Sunday tweeted that Trump, "can not run our economy with Tweets."

While saying nothing about the president's latest swipe at Harley-Davidson, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kevin Nicholson quickly issued a tweet of his own telling Baldwin, "you don’t understand our economy."

.@tammybaldwin: we do need better trade deals, not the ones engineered by you and other members of the political class. We must bring trade partners back to the table and do away with tariffs. You don’t fight for WI and you don’t understand our economy. https://t.co/CNlgKqEID7 — Kevin Nicholson (@KevinMNicholson) August 12, 2018

"We do need better trade deals, not the ones engineered by you and other members of the political class," Nicholson said.

.@realDonaldTrump, you can't run our economy with tweets. Wisconsin businesses like @harleydavidson need better trade deals, not tweets and trade wars. —TB https://t.co/4EOJh5hvVV — Tammy Baldwin (@tammybaldwin) August 12, 2018

Trump has repeatedly bashed Harley-Davidson since June when company officials announced the production move, which critics have said was already in the works.