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Trump's reciprocal tariffs may target Royal Enfield.

D

Del_RE

Getting there...
Location
Canada
As I'm sure most of you are aware, President Trump has announced reciprocal tariffs to go into effect on April 2nd of this year. It looks like motorcycles from India could be one of the items hit by these tariffs, as India, it seems, has high tariffs on American motorcycles. And since the Royal Enfield bikes for Canada come from Texas, this may affect all of North America.

Edit: I didn't forget Mexico, I just don't know if their Royal Enfields come from Texas, or India directly.
 
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And this thread exposes one of the reasons I love this forum. We get to this point and stop ourselves.

Now please delete this post.

...

See? Nothing. Perfection!
 
It is quite ridiculous to talk about tariffs to other countries when those tariffs are really going to end up being paid by American citizens. The goal is that you don't buy products from other countries and if you do you will pay more taxes to your country.
The solution, buy a Harley.
 
India's high import tax may only apply to large capacity motorcycles, so a true reciprocal might only apply to large capacity imports.
FWIW Oz has a free trade agreement with the US, all US being tariff free but we are seeing no reciprity with our exports.
 
While I doubt it would be affected, are there aftermarket oil filters available? I'm looking to reduce costs anyway since it seems like all OEM materials are more expensive than strictly needed.
 
I just saw on TV that the European Union will put reciprocal tariffs on some products like Harley motorcycles starting tomorrow.
So now buying a Harley in Europe is more expensive for us (citizens will pay the tariffs).
This is ridiculous.
In Spain in the 70's-80's there were several Spanish motorcycle factories (Derbi, Rieju, Ossa, Montesa, Bultaco) that manufactured mostly small displacement motorcycles (49cc to 250cc).
The government created a law prohibiting the sale of foreign motorcycles of less than 350cc to protect the factories against the invasion of Japanese motorcycles.
It was not possible for me to buy a Yamaha TDR 250 2t that was my dream then.
Years later Honda bought Montesa, Kawasaki bought Derbi and I am not sure if Aprilia bought Rieju.
The other Spanish brands ended up disappearing.
How much fun they have harming us citizens.
 
buckeye-chuck said:
While I doubt it would be affected, are there aftermarket oil filters available? I'm looking to reduce costs anyway since it seems like all OEM materials are more expensive than strictly needed.
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2589325894

These came from India through ebay, at the end of July 2022 just under $39US for 5 filters. They took 22 days to arrive and that seller has no items listed anymore. But i do find this 5-pack for $50US
 
Javito1968 said:
It is quite ridiculous to talk about tariffs to other countries when those tariffs are really going to end up being paid by American citizens. The goal is that you don't buy products from other countries and if you do you will pay more taxes to your country.
The solution, buy a Harley.
Click to expand...
Harleys are assembled (mostly) in America from parts sourced globally including China, Mexico and many more.
 
DaveySprocket said:
Harleys are assembled (mostly) in America from parts sourced globally including China, Mexico and many more.
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Yes. It is going to be very interesting to see how they compute tariffs on "Made In USA from US and global components" products, which describes about 85% of what's "Made in USA."

To tell the truth, I am far less concerned about how the tariffs will affect the price of parts and bikes, as bikes and parts are not what I'd call a major part of my expenditures. What is considerably more significant is how the on-again-off-again tariffs are destabilizing the global markets, causing companies to sit on cash or stock up on imported stuff, and tanking the stock markets. My IRA, which contributes about half of my retirement income, is already down by enough to pretty much buy one of every bike RE currently makes... Since I'm not cashing it all in right now, there is hope that when sanity prevails (assuming it does, perhaps humanity has reached its level of incompetence and this is just a symptom) most of what I've lost will come back before I need it. I hope.

Meantime, today was a splendid day for a ride, if a bit chilly (high 50s). I rode to my dealer, bought a new seat and windshield for the H452, installed both and rode home the long way to see how they worked. They are an improvement. Yay. 898 miles on the bike now, will probably try to put it over 1000 tomorrow afternoon, when we're supposed to have low 60s. And Friday we're looking at mid 70s before rain and more seasonal temperatures arrive for the weekend (when I will be too busy playing bagpipes and drinking Guinness that somebody else paid for to ride anyway). With any luck I will not think about international trade or the economy until sometime next week!
 
From what I've heard, India's trade restrictions have been fiercely protectionist. It's why the old Bullet remained unchanged for so long. There was no competition.

I've stocked up on the maintenance and wear items I'll need for the riding season.

I imagine parts availability isn't very good for Urals, these days .
 
StefArmstg said:
From what I've heard, India's trade restrictions have been fiercely protectionist. It's why the old Bullet remained unchanged for so long. There was no competition.
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Good point. I'm not defending or advocating trade restrictions but it is exactly that India restriction on Japanese motorcycles that preserved Royal Enfield when the UK motorcycle industry collapsed. So, remarkably , today we can buy a Bullet of almost identical appearance from the 1950s UK model (but, thankfully, with EFI, OHC and disk brakes).
 
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