Tariffs will cost Harley-Davidson more than $40 million in 2018

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President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence meet with Harley Davidson executives and Union Representatives on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC on Thursday, Feb. 02, 2017. 

Jabin Botsford | The Washington Post | Getty Images

President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence meet with Harley Davidson executives and Union Representatives on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC on Thursday, Feb. 02, 2017. 

Harley-Davidson is expecting to pay at least $40 million extra this year to cover the costs of new tariffs across the world, Chief Financial Officer John Olin said Tuesday.

The company’s being hit with tariffs on the metals Harley uses to make its bikes, as well as tariffs on the fully assembled motorcycles imported into the European Union and China, Olin said after the company released its third-quarter earnings.

“Our expectations for the impact of recently enacted tariffs includes incremental costs of approximately $15 million to $20 million for steel and aluminum and approximately $25 million for EU tariffs,” Olin said. “Additionally, China increased its tariffs volume on foreign motorcycles produced in the United States by 25 percentage points and the U.S. has increased tariffs on certain products imported from China. We believe this will increase our 2018 cost by approximately $3 million. In total we now expect to incur approximately $43 million to $48 million of increased costs related to the tariffs during 2018.”

He said the company is doing everything it can to minimize the impact of tariffs on its profits.

Olin said Harley still plans to move production of motorcycles destined for Europe out of the U.S. to avoid costly tariffs the European Union imposed on imported bikes earlier this year.

“We never imagined moving production of our European customers out of the United States and here we are,” Olin said. He added that the company is currently exploring how it will adjust its supply chains and will share more information on its plan in early 2019.



Source : CNBC