President Donald Trump challenged Harley-Davidson for announcing plans to move production overseas to escape the tariffs leveled on motorcycles by the European Union.
“A Harley-Davidson should never be built in another country-never!” he wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
Trump said that the company’s customers and employees were not happy with the announcement and threatened to level new taxes on their products.
“If they move, watch, it will be the beginning of the end – they surrendered, they quit!” Trump wrote. “The Aura will be gone and they will be taxed like never before!”
Trump reminded followers that Harley-Davidson wanted to move their plant operations to Thailand long before the tariffs were announced.
“[T]]hey were just using Tariffs/Trade War as an excuse,” he said. “Shows how unbalanced & unfair trade is, but we will fix it.”
Trump said he spoke with Harley-Davidson officials about the tariffs in other countries for being too high, when they visited him at the White House.
He also threatened to tax them if they tried to sell products manufactured overseas back into the United States.
“Companies are now coming back to America,” he wrote. “Harley must know that they won’t be able to sell back into U.S. without paying a big tax!”
Trump said he was working to get foreign countries to eliminate tariffs, in order to help American workers and farmers.
“We are opening up closed markets and expanding our footprint,” he wrote. “They must play fair or they will pay tariffs!”
Trump also previewed upcoming tariffs on foreign cars from the European Union.
“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,” he wrote. “In the end it will all even out – and it won’t take very long!”