Harley-Davidson Wants Payback If Europe Targets Its Bikes

Harley-Davidson isn't cheap no matter where you buy it.

- John Keilman

But if the European Union imposes a 50% retaliatory tariff on the company's motorcycles in April, prices could reach astounding heights in Harley's second-largest market by sales.

Consider the Road Glide, a touring model that starts at $28,000 in the U.S. In Denmark, the price tag is already around $77,000 once the country's 25% value-added tax and 150% luxury tax are added.

The proposed new EU tariff, which officials said would be in response to levies imposed by the Trump administration, would take the Road Glide price to $124,000, the company said.

Harley said its products are afflicted by unfair trade policies in other markets, too. The company wants its overseas rivals to face reciprocal duties when they export bikes into the U.S.

"Competitor brands should not be allowed to take advantage of low-cost manufacturing and preferential import duty when accessing the U.S. market," Jonathan Root, the company's chief financial officer, told a congressional trade panel Tuesday.

The Motorcycle Industry Council, which represents numerous manufacturers, declined to comment.

Harley-Davidson, which is based in Milwaukee and does most of its manufacturing in the U.S., has been a beneficiary and a victim of tariffs. In the 1980s, the Reagan administration imposed duties on imported bikes, rescuing Harley from near-bankruptcy and helping it to dominate the domestic market.