In 2018, the European Union hit Harley-Davidson with a 31% tariff overnight — more than five times what American motorcycles had paid for decades. It wasn't really about Harley. It was retaliation for Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs, and Harley became one of the most visible casualties of a trade war it never started.

The EU's retaliatory package covered $3.2 billion of US goods — bourbon, yachts, and motorcycles — and the tariff jump from 6% to 31% threatened to cost Harley $90-100 million a year, roughly 15% of its annual profits. Instead of absorbing that hit, Harley made a move that even drew criticism from Trump himself: shifting production of Europe-bound bikes overseas to dodge the tariff entirely.

This video breaks down how an American icon got caught in the crossfire of a trade war, why motorcycles ended up on the EU's retaliation list, and what moving production overseas actually cost Harley-Davidson.

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