https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/harley-davidson-move-some-prod...

My guess is that they were looking for an excuse to build in Europe to cut down shipping costs, and perhaps local tariffs.
They have factories in Brazil, Tailand, and India already.
In the 90's I took a tour of the HD factory in York Pa. The tour guide proudly recited that the bikes had been more than 50% foreign made in the dark days of AMF, but now they were over 95% made in USA.
Hmm, I thought...
The forks and shocks were made by Showa in Japan.
The starters by Hitachi in Japan.
Carbs, Keihin, Japan.
Wheels, Australia.
Brake rotors and switch gear, Japan.
Pistons, Mahle, Germany.
Relays, Bosch, Germany.
And so on.
Seemed like a lot of parts to only make up 5%, either in quantity, weight, or value.
In those days I was still writing for the bike magazines. Asked my bud, the editor how HD could spew such manure and get away with it?
Seems they used 'fuzzy math'. Counted the forks as 1 part, counted each bolt on the motor as individual parts.
Makes me laugh when people get upset that the bikes aren't 100% American.
They haven't been for many decades.

It amazes me : Why anyone would spend $25,000 + on a Gold Wing or those big Harleys    

 The new Goldwing has an automatic transmission, and some pretty advanced front suspension.  I'd hate to forget about that auto trans and blip myself into an intersection.

 I've always felt Harleys were overpriced.

MMRanch wrote on 06/26/18 at 07:10:30:


The income and living expenses of the US population has a very wide spread, and for some people $25,000 spent on a new toy is not really a big deal.  That amount can easily fit into their discretionary spending budget.

The members of this forum tend to be a bit more thrifty in our spending habits, and we sleep in tents when we go on group rides!  

Eegore wrote on 06/26/18 at 07:31:54:


Particularly if all you want one for is to tie it to a car and drag it around a parking lot doing some half-as*ed crash bar experiment.

The latest?...
Donald Trump warns he will tax Harley-Davidson 'like never before' in relocation response
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-warns-tax-harley-155709247.html

If Harley moves manufacturing overseas for the EU market but still make the US models in the US - I am not sure that the US can do anything about that.  A lot of the parts are already sourced from other countries.

Although my brain doesn't like the fact that BMW, KTM and others are having major parts or complete bikes made in India rather than Germany.......I believe the bikes are still being built very well.