This is not the first time Harley-Davidson has made a move like this. In 2019, the closure of Harley-Davidson’s Kansas City factory (with 572 jobs lost) coincided with a shift in production to its then brand-new Thailand facility. At the time, Harley blamed the production shift on the European Union’s 31% tariffs on U.S.-made bikes, a retaliatory EU move against President Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs. But in November 2021, the EU allowed motorbike tariffs to revert back to the standard 6% as a result of a U.S.-EU agreement replacing U.S. metals tariffs with a quota.

Harley has maintained that its production shifts to Thailand will have no impact on American jobs, but it is unclear how this will be managed. This is the first time Harley will be manufacturing motorcycles for sale in the U.S. market that are not made in America. Harley CEO Jochen Zeitz’s previously pledged that “Harley-Davidson motorcycles sold in America will always be built in America,” and now that promise is being broken by this most recent shift sending all Pan America, Sportster, and Nightster model production to Thailand.

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