20 ms·

The US charges plenty of high tariffs in return, it's not like the US doesn't protect industries. The EU laid these on in response to Trump protecting the domes

The US charges plenty of high tariffs in return, it's not like the US doesn't protect industries. The EU laid these on in response to Trump protecting the domestic steel and aluminum industry (notionally for national security reasons, which is a joke).

briandear 8y ago
Why was there a 6% tariff on motorcycles to begin with? That tax wasn’t in response to Trump. That tax was to protect EU industry which is exactly the problem. The EU has long engaged in protectionism — when the US does the same, somehow that’s a scandal? Let’s be intellectually consistent here. All tariffs are bad except in the case of dumping.
- detaro 8y ago
  And the US has 25% import duty on trucks, why do they have that to begin with? You can play that back-and-forth game quite a bit. I'd be a bit more sympathetic if the US government had asked the EU to remove duties before creating new ones, but that doesn't appear to be the case. And at the same time people complain that it's totally unfair that the Canadians seek to limit imports of some goods from the US...
  - chiph 8y ago
    > 25% import duty on trucks Commonly known as the "Chicken Tax", this was imposed by LBJ in response to French & German duties on imported chicken meat. Congress lumped light trucks into the bill because LBJ wanted the support of the UAW, who didn't like the importation of the VW Type 2 pickup as well as Japanese utility vehicles. At the moment, the tax on light trucks is the only remaining part of this bill. And it's pretty toothless as Honda is now building trucks in Alabama, and Ford/GM are building fullsize trucks in Canada & Mexico (which don't get taxed because of NAFTA) yet somehow get classified as domestics.
- jonknee 8y ago
  Probably for similar reasons the US charges a 2.4% tariff (on a muuuuch higher dollar value of motorcycles since Harley is about the only US motorcycle maker).
- grey-area 8y ago
  The US has long engaged in protectionism as well - do a search for US protectionism if you think the US is somehow unfairly treated in this respect and need a list. For a long time the consensus has been that lower barriers are better for everyone, until Trump unilaterally ripped up several free trade agreements and declared (trade) war on the world. This is a dangerous escalation from Trump which will lead to a global trade war and recession at the very least. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protectionism_in_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protectionism_in_the_United_...
- tim333 8y ago
  >Why was there a 6% tariff I'm not sure the exact details but it was all set in Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), spanning from 1986 to 1994 and embracing 123 countries. And then I guess people kind of forgot about it. EU's trade weighted average MFN tariff was 2.3% for non-agricultural products (in 2013) and no one seemed particularly bothered about it till now.
philjohn 8y ago
Can't respond to the person below you, so I'll have to do it here - the EU doesn't actually make many motorcycles, and people who buy them don't want a harley - they want something fast and reliable, not loud and showy. I would suspect it's a general 6% tarriff on things that haven't been included in a trade deal before, and thanks to WTO rules it'll be the same for Japanese motorbikes as well.
- smogcutter 8y ago
  That's what I would've thought too, but in 2017 Harley sold 140k bikes in the US and 40k in Europe. So probably a fraction of the Japanese brands, but definitely a significant portion of Harley's business. http://investor.harley-davidson.com/our-company/motorcycle-retail-sales http://investor.harley-davidson.com/our-company/motorcycle-r...

briandear 8y ago

Why was there a 6% tariff on motorcycles to begin with? That tax wasn’t in response to Trump. That tax was to protect EU industry which is exactly the problem. The EU has long engaged in protectionism — when the US does the same, somehow that’s a scandal? Let’s be intellectually consistent here. All tariffs are bad except in the case of dumping.

detaro 8y ago
And the US has 25% import duty on trucks, why do they have that to begin with? You can play that back-and-forth game quite a bit. I'd be a bit more sympathetic if the US government had asked the EU to remove duties before creating new ones, but that doesn't appear to be the case. And at the same time people complain that it's totally unfair that the Canadians seek to limit imports of some goods from the US...
- chiph 8y ago
  > 25% import duty on trucks Commonly known as the "Chicken Tax", this was imposed by LBJ in response to French & German duties on imported chicken meat. Congress lumped light trucks into the bill because LBJ wanted the support of the UAW, who didn't like the importation of the VW Type 2 pickup as well as Japanese utility vehicles. At the moment, the tax on light trucks is the only remaining part of this bill. And it's pretty toothless as Honda is now building trucks in Alabama, and Ford/GM are building fullsize trucks in Canada & Mexico (which don't get taxed because of NAFTA) yet somehow get classified as domestics.
jonknee 8y ago
Probably for similar reasons the US charges a 2.4% tariff (on a muuuuch higher dollar value of motorcycles since Harley is about the only US motorcycle maker).
grey-area 8y ago
The US has long engaged in protectionism as well - do a search for US protectionism if you think the US is somehow unfairly treated in this respect and need a list. For a long time the consensus has been that lower barriers are better for everyone, until Trump unilaterally ripped up several free trade agreements and declared (trade) war on the world. This is a dangerous escalation from Trump which will lead to a global trade war and recession at the very least. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protectionism_in_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protectionism_in_the_United_...
tim333 8y ago
>Why was there a 6% tariff I'm not sure the exact details but it was all set in Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), spanning from 1986 to 1994 and embracing 123 countries. And then I guess people kind of forgot about it. EU's trade weighted average MFN tariff was 2.3% for non-agricultural products (in 2013) and no one seemed particularly bothered about it till now.

philjohn 8y ago

Can't respond to the person below you, so I'll have to do it here - the EU doesn't actually make many motorcycles, and people who buy them don't want a harley - they want something fast and reliable, not loud and showy. I would suspect it's a general 6% tarriff on things that haven't been included in a trade deal before, and thanks to WTO rules it'll be the same for Japanese motorbikes as well.

smogcutter 8y ago
That's what I would've thought too, but in 2017 Harley sold 140k bikes in the US and 40k in Europe. So probably a fraction of the Japanese brands, but definitely a significant portion of Harley's business. http://investor.harley-davidson.com/our-company/motorcycle-retail-sales http://investor.harley-davidson.com/our-company/motorcycle-r...