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Harley-Davidson motorcycles are offered for sale at a Harley-Davidson dealership.
Harley-Davidson expects to incur about $45 million to $55 million in increased costs this year because of the ongoing global trade conflict.
The company projects that steel and aluminum tariffs will add between $15 million and $20 million to its costs and European tariffs an additional $30 million to $35 million, CFO John Olin said during the motorcycle manufacturer's second-quarter earnings conference call.
If Harley-Davidson is unable to mitigate the impact of the tariffs by 2019, Olin said the annual impact would be $90 million to $100 million, representing the majority of its profit in the European Union market.
Last month, the company entered the front line of the trade war when it announced plans to move production for European consumers overseas to avoid EU tariffs. The company has still not determined which one of its overseas facilities will manufacture its European bikes.
"We made the best decision given the circumstances, the best decision for our customers, business and dealers in this critical market," CEO Matt Levatich said during the call.
Harley-Davidson said it is working with all of the governments it can, including the Trump administration, to have the tariffs removed.
The company's stock surged as much as 7 percent Tuesday, boosted by a better-than-expected earnings report.
Net income in the latest quarter fell to $242.3 million, or $1.45 per share, from $258.9 million, or $1.48 per share, a year ago. Excluding manufacturing optimization costs, Harley said it earned $1.52 per share.
According to Thomson Reuters consensus estimates, Harley was expected to earn $1.34 per share.
Its top-line results for the quarter also beat analyst estimates but were down from the year-ago period. Harley-Davidson reported $1.53 billion in revenue, outpacing analyst estimates of $1.41 billion.
Shipments during the quarter dropped by 11.3 percent, while revenue from motorcycles fell 3.3 percent from the same quarter a year ago.
Growth in international retail motorcycle sales were up 0.7 percent in the second quarter, but the company reported that U.S. retail sales were down 6.4 percent.
