American cruiser motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson has denied rumours of its CEO Matt Levatich criticising US President Donald Trump’s international trade policy. A tweet is rounding rounds on the popular social media platform in which Harley Davidson CEO Matt Levatich is quoted saying that the company’s decision to move some of its operations is based 100% on President Trump’s tariffs. The tweet adds that Mr Trump knows nothing about economics and even less about trade and the man is a moron. The tweet clearly looks fake and hence, the company took no time in responding to it. Harley-Davidson sent out a tweet in which Levatich is quoted saying that the tweet was fake and he has not and would never speak about the US President or anyone in that way.
Harley Davidson CEO Matthew S Levatich says:
“Our decision to move some of our operations is 100% based on President Trumps tariffs. Mr. Trump knows nothing about economics and even less about trade. The man is a moron.”#MAGA @DailyCaller @realDonaldTrump @CNN @GOP pic.twitter.com/Q1wpjUaSx4
— Judy Tinsleman (@tinsleman) June 26, 2018
In the last few days, Donald Trump and Harley-Davidson have been in the headlines on the topic of international trade policy. Harley-Davidson recently announced that it plans to shift its production outside the US to avoid heavy tariffs that have been imposed by the European Union. Donald Trump seemed unhappy with the company’s decision and he urged Harley Davidson to be ‘patient’. The fake tweet afterwards created a lot of engagement on Twitter and it has been retweeted close to 39,000 times.
“It’s shameful we live in a time when people create fake quotes. There’s one attributed to me on Twitter. I have not, nor would I ever speak about the President of the United States or anyone else in that way.”
– Matt Levatich, President and CEO, Harley-Davidson, Inc. pic.twitter.com/y2wIut1DEg— Harley-Davidson (@harleydavidson) June 27, 2018
European Union has imposed retaliatory tariffs on US goods and this includes motorcycles as well that are made in America and imported to Europe. This comes as a result of Donald Trump imposing heavy tariffs on aluminium and steel. Harley-Davidson earlier said in a regulatory filing that EU tariffs on its motorcycles that have been exported from the U.S. increased between 6 percent and 31 percent. This means that on an average, $2,200 per motorcycle has been added on the units exported from the U.S. to the EU.
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[jwplayer fUeBAV7u-DE6UeepY]
Will Harley-Davidson prices in India be affected?
The latest trade chaos between Trump and Harley-Davidson due to European Union has nothing to do with India. However, the US President had earlier threatened to stop trade with India over ‘unfair practices’. Donald Trump said that he is unhappy with the import duties levied on Harley-Davidson bikes imported to the US. Earlier, India reduced the duties on Completely Built Units (CBUs) from 75 percent to 50 percent that made the imported bikes cheaper. On the other hand, duties on locally assembled bikes increased that disappointed a lot of manufacturers who set up their production facilities in India.
