How much could European Union tariffs hurt the U.S.? - Entrepreneur Generations

The European Union has threatened to retaliate with tariffs on American-made products like Harley-Davidsons, bourbon and Levi blue jeans if President Trump proceeds with his plan to place tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

"Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, made the remarks to the German news media in reaction to the proposed tariffs," Melissa Eddy and Chad Bray report for The New York Times. "He said the plans to tax the American goods, produced in the home states of key Republican leaders, had not yet been finalized, but amounted to treating them “the same way” that European products would be handled if the metals tariffs go through.

A tariff against Levis would impact few American jobs, since most Levis are made in Thailand. Levis are only made in America by one factory in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Harley-Davidson has four factories in the U.S. and another four in Australia, Brazil, India and Thailand. Shifting production to these foreign factories could help the company skirt tariffs. "Europe also accounted for 16% of Harley's worldwide motorcycle sales last year, or some 39,773 bikes, and it totaled 42% of the bike maker's international sales, making it the second biggest market behind only the U.S.," Rich Duprey reports for The Motley Fool. Many of Harley's new models are Softails, a line popular in Europe than in the U.S. Because the company is investing so heavily in those models, losing sales because of higher tariffs would hurt the company quite a bit. The bottom line, Duprey writes, is that Harley-Davidson might survive the tariffs, "but it would also take on heavy damage at a time it can ill afford to do so."

Tariffs on bourbon could devastate Kentucky, though. It's a major driver of the regional economy, and is becoming more popular internationally, Mitch Herckis reports for Route Fifty. A 2017 study from the University of Louisville said the bourbon industry brought $190 million in revenue to the state and local economies in 2016 alone. It also said that "the industry is responsible for between 15,000 and 17,500 jobs in the state, annual payroll of nearly $800 million, and total economic output of $8.5 billion" and said that 2,000 jobs were added in the past two years.

from The Rural Blog http://ift.tt/2Fr2dS1 How much could European Union tariffs hurt the U.S.? - Entrepreneur Generations

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