The Trump administration recently decided to tax aluminium and steel, so in retaliation, the EU has introduced a 25 percent tariff on all motorcycles that make over 500cc from the USA. Our country has also proposed a similar retaliation and has sent World Trade Organisation (WTO) a letter regarding the same.
All bikes sold by Harley-Davidson and Indian Motorcycle in Europe fall will be taxed higher. Electric motorcycles have been exempted by this notification though. Domestic US market sales still account for a majority of Harley’s business, but the company has been selling a lot abroad, in fact, Europe is Harley’s biggest overseas market.
Sales in Europe grew by 8.3 percent from 2015 to 2016, while in the same period, US sales plummeted by more than 12 percent from 1,68,240 to 1,47,972. The new tariffs will surely put a dent in the bike maker's overseas sales and we have to wait and see whether similar duties will be implemented in India too.
