THE LARGE dealership with the distinctive orange logo in Berlin's Hutten-strasse displays a range of Harley-David-sons from a spectacular custom machine, "Der Texaner", to the brand-new LiveWire, an electric bike. Yet the Midwestern motorcycle-maker's only shop in the German capital is deserted owing to covid-19 rules mandating a time slot and a negative test result, which deters most bikers.The shop is usually busy at this time of the year, says a sales assistant. But customers will not return, warns Jochen Zeitz, Harley-Davidson's newish German chief executive, if the European Union goes ahead with the imposition of a 56% tariff on all imported Harley products from June 1st, which is part of the EU'S retaliation against tariffs on steel and aluminium imposed by the American government. The tariffs will make it impossible for Harley-Davidson to compete with rivals in Europe, says Mr Zeitz, who lodged a legal complaint against the decision as soon as the plan was made public last month.
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