The maker of America’s iconic Harley-Davidson motorcycles, rocked by President Donald Trump’s trade war and falling demand, barely broke even in its latest earnings report and shares plummeted the most in a year before recovering. Harley’s American retail sales tumbled 10 percent in 2018′s final quarter — the eighth quarter they fell ― and profit missed what analysts expected in Tuesday’s report. Trump, who extolled the company during his presidential campaign and in 2017 invited Harley executives to the White House, added to the Milwaukee company’s woes with tariffs that resulted from his trade war with Europe and China. Then, when Harley announced it would move some production overseas to avoid the tariffs, Trump angrily advocated a boycott of the company’s motorcycles. Demand for the bulky bikes dropped in Europe and Asia, with worldwide sales down 6.7 percent in the quarter, noted Bloomberg.

Source: Huffington Post February 01, 2019 12:45 UTC