Harley’s plan, Trump’s tweets stirring passions
Forget about a rumble. This has become an ear-splitting roar.
President Donald Trump’s tweets early Tuesday taking Harley-Davidson Inc. to task for its response to trade sanctions levied by the European Union were a hot topic on social media and among Harley owners.
Nearly all the elements of this drama strike deep into the passions of many: A uniquely American company, a Twitter-obsessed president loved by some and despised by others, American jobs, global trade, politics, patriotism and power ... all mixed together in a simmering cauldron a week before the nation celebrates its independence.
Harley-Davidson this week said it plans to move production of motorcycles destined for the European Union to its international factories, to avoid tariffs the EU has imposed on its bikes.
The EU took the action in retaliation for trade actions taken by the Trump administration.
Harley owner and enthusiast Robert Miranda, who is founder of the the Milwaukee chapter of the Latin American Motorcycle Association, has plenty of opinions on the situation.
“I’m not a person who really likes Trump at all,” Miranda said. “But, I have reservations about Harley’s decision because I think Harley is taking advantage of this a little bit.”
Miranda is troubled by the entire dilemma.
“Everybody needs to get a grip and sit down and rethink, think more in line with what is in the best interest of the American worker and the American people,” he said. “On this situation, I am sympathetic to what’s going on with Harley but I am also aware of the calamity that is occurring with our economic policy.”
Would he consider parking his bike as a result of the brouhaha? “No, no, no. No way.”
Miranda said he resents the position he’s in.
“I don’t appreciate that this government is forcing me as an individual to start rethinking my loyalty to an American brand,” he said, adding that Harley-Davidson is “a brand that I have always trusted and have always respected and have admired.”
“That’s being done by a government that right now seems to have its head up its butt on what’s going on with international trade,” Miranda said.
“I think Harley is doing what Harley needs to do to survive,” Miranda added, “although I think Harley is also taking advantage a little bit of what’s going on. But, this is a corporation, and corporations are about the bottom line.”
Veteran Harley owner Ted Palmatier loves his bike but stands firmly in Trump’s corner in this fight.
“It’s American iron and that’s how people who buy the brand, ride the brand, enjoy the brand see it,” said Palmatier, of Cudahy.
“It’s all about choices,” he added, “but I think that as you work a brand or establish a brand, it has to be loyal to its major customer base.”
That base clearly is in the United States, Palmatier believes. And it’s about time, he said, that someone started protecting industry here after the U.S. and its low-tariff policies have helped other countries grow their economies.
All Trump is doing now is asking those countries “basically to pay your dues, step up to the plate,” Palmatier said.
But while Palmatier backs the president in his fight with Harley, he’s not going so far as to give up the motorcycle he has ridden for years.
“I’m going to continue to ride,” he said. “I don’t see me putting it on the curb and starting it on fire or selling it or dropping it off a crane and smashing it.”
Palmatier said Harley’s plans to ramp up overseas production — even if it’s only to sell into the European market — will hurt the company.
“They’re putting themselves in trouble with the customers, they’re putting themselves in trouble with the
American workforce,” he said.
Palmatier voted for Trump and supports many of his actions, if not always his style.
“If I had a negative to say about him, I’d definitely take his Twitter account away from him,” Palmatier said.
On social media, the comments were passionate and pulled no punches, accusing Trump of “turning” on an American company or accusing Harley of neglecting its American roots and workforce.
This week’s firestorm, though, probably won’t seriously hurt the company, said John Miller, a Harley rider (his ’96 Electra Glide Classic is tricked out with some 400 LEDs) and the owner of a Thiensville business that makes lighted windshields for motorcycles and other vehicles.
“In the long run, I don’t think it really will,” Miller said. “They’ve just got too much loyalty — I mean, 115 years’ worth.”
Miller said most Harley owners probably already realize that components of their bikes are made abroad, and he jokingly suggested that the dispute with the president might create a new set of customers.
“Democrats will buy the damn bike just because Trump didn’t want it made somewhere else,” Miller said.