Donald Trump Meeting Harley-Davidson Executives Today After All
But the president and the Harley bigwigs are sitting down in D.C., not Milwaukee.
As we all learned from Alice Cooper in Wayne's World, Milwaukee is derived from an Algonquin phrase meaning "the good land." But apparently it isn't such a good spot for President Donald Trump, however, as the POTUS chose to meet with Harley-Davidson executives today in his new digs in Washington, D.C. instead of in Harley's hometown in Wisconsin.
Trump had originally been scheduled to travel to Milwaukee for today's meeting, CNN reported yesterday, but Harley-Davidson reportedly squashed the plans out of fears that the president's presence would provoke protests. Instead, apparently, the motorcycle manufacturer and the White House decided it would be easier for the execs to journey to D.C.
“We looked at different options, and ultimately the easiest thing to do in accordance with the president’s schedule was to invite them here, to Washington, to talk about some of the stuff we’ve been doing,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said during a briefing, according to the Milwaukee Business-Journal.
Harley-Davidson confirmed the meeting yesterday with an appropriately Harley-Davidson-y message on its Twitter account.
The topic of the hour, so to speak, is how the Trump administration's plans for trade could impact Harley's lucrative export business, president and CEO Matt Levatich said in a conference call Tuesday. 52.5 percent of all Harleys are sold outside the United States, according to MBJ. And with the motorcycle maker planning 50 new bikes over the next five years, keeping the export pipelines open and flowing is crucial to the company's goals.
