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Ramping up his own attack, Trump took to Twitter this morning and continued his digital assault on the Harley-Davidson motorcycle company, which made headlines around the country when it announced it would be moving a significant portion of its vehicle production to Europe in response to the huge tariffs that European Union imposed on it in response to President Trump’s recently declared trade war.
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Harley-Davidson should stay 100% in America, with the people that got you your success. I’ve done so much for you, and then this. Other companies are coming back where they belong! We won’t forget, and neither will your customers or your now very HAPPY competitors!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2018
Despite his allusion to having “done so much for” the company – likely referring to a February 2017 meeting at which he invited company officials to the White House – the tweet is a tacit acknowledgment that his failed strongman policies regarding tariffs are coming back to bite him.
This morning’s tweet comes on the heels of yesterday’s similar tirade, in which the president fired off a vague threat that this would be the “beginning of the end” for the company and followed it up with the threat of retaliatory taxes if they didn’t submit to his will and shoulder even more losses than the $100 million a year the tariffs are expected to slice from the company’s bottom line.
Early this year Harley-Davidson said they would move much of their plant operations in Kansas City to Thailand. That was long before Tariffs were announced. Hence, they were just using Tariffs/Trade War as an excuse. Shows how unbalanced & unfair trade is, but we will fix it…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2018
….We are getting other countries to reduce and eliminate tariffs and trade barriers that have been unfairly used for years against our farmers, workers and companies. We are opening up closed markets and expanding our footprint. They must play fair or they will pay tariffs!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2018
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….We are finishing our study of Tariffs on cars from the E.U. in that they have long taken advantage of the U.S. in the form of Trade Barriers and Tariffs. In the end it will all even out – and it won’t take very long!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2018
A Harley-Davidson should never be built in another country-never! Their employees and customers are already very angry at them. If they move, watch, it will be the beginning of the end – they surrendered, they quit! The Aura will be gone and they will be taxed like never before!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2018
For all the Republican Party claims to worship the “free market,” the Republican President sure is going out of his way to bully and badger the market into submitting to his ignorant will.
One watches and waits with a macabre curiosity to see what will happen when the would-be tyrant learns that you cannot simply dictate the terms you want and then throw lawyers and tweets at them until the other party concedes.
Multinational corporations and our European allies are not scheming New York City real estate mafiosi or a disgruntled mistress to be pressured into complacency. These actions have very real effects that will impact thousands of people, and the corporate bigwigs he’s dealing with is just as unused to being dictated to as Trump is and will not take these threats lightly.
