More falsehoods from the Liar-in-Chief

Here are some tweets from Donald J. Trump, followed by analysis:

Surprised that Harley-Davidson, of all companies, would be the first to wave the White Flag. I fought hard for them and ultimately they will not pay tariffs selling into the E.U., which has hurt us badly on trade, down $151 Billion. Taxes just a Harley excuse - be patient!  #MAGA

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 25, 2018

There is no guarantee that the trade war that Trump has initiated with almost every other major economic power on the planet will end anytime soon.  The EU has imposed new tariffs on US products and this will cause the tariff on Harley-Davidson products made in the US and sold in the EU to go from 6% to 31%.  That adds an additional cost of $2,200 to their motorcycles sold in the EU.  The company sold almost 45,000 motorcycles in the EU in their FY2017.  That's nearly $100 million in additional costs.  If they were to try to pass on the increased costs to their customers in the EU, it would hurt their business.

Early this year Harley-Davidson said they would move much of their plant operations in Kansas City to Thailand. That was long before Tariffs were announced. Hence, they were just using Tariffs/Trade War as an excuse. Shows how unbalanced & unfair trade is, but we will fix it.....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2018

Actually, Harley-Davidson announced their plans to move production to Thailand back in April of 2017, not earlier this year.  It was in response to Trump's decision to withdraw the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which he did during his first month in office.  By building the components in the US and assembling them at the new plant in Thailand, the company avoids the 60% tariff that would be imposed on Harley-Davidson products shipped complete from the U.S. to Thailand.  That's the same arrangement the company has been using in India since 2011 to avoid that nation's 100% tariff.

....When I had Harley-Davidson officials over to the White House, I chided them about tariffs in other countries, like India, being too high. Companies are now coming back to America. Harley must know that they won’t be able to sell back into U.S. without paying a big tax!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2018

Harley-Davidson has no plans to build their motorcycles overseas and then sell them back in the US.  The "...big tax" is nonsense.

A Harley-Davidson should never be built in another country-never! Their employees and customers are already very angry at them. If they move, watch, it will be the beginning of the end - they surrendered, they quit! The Aura will be gone and they will be taxed like never before!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2018

Mr. Trump prides himself on his business acumen.  Why doesn't he do with his businesses what he insists Harley-Davidson should do, and build his products in the US?  Examples:

Trump Vodka - made in the Netherlands
Trump Signature Clothing - made in Bangladesh, China, Honduras and Vietnam
Trump University - advocated outsourcing jobs overseas
Trump's furniture collection - made in China and India Ivanka Trump's clothing/shoes - made in Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam. Back in 2013 some of the shoes bearing her name were made in Ethiopia. Trump imports workers from foreign nations for his son's winery and some of his clubs. Perhaps we should add #HypocriteInChief to the list of hashtags he should be labeled with.