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Trump's claim that \"ultimately [Harley-Davidson] will not pay tariffs,\" appeared to imply that he believed that the E.U. would reverse its decision.

In February 2017, Trump welcomed Harley-Davidson executives to Washington and viewed a number of the company's motorcycles on the White House South Lawn. At the time, he specifically thanked the company \"for building things in America.\"

\"I think you’re going to even expand -- I know your business is now doing very well and there’s a lot of spirit right now in the country that you weren’t having so much in the last number of months that you have right now,\" the president added.

\"PHOTO:
Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images, FILE
PHOTO: President Donald Trump arrives to meet with Harley Davidson executives and union representatives on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., Feb. 2, 2017.
>

While the company said that it expects it will take \"9 to 18 months\" to increase production at its facilities abroad, the move is already drawing the ire of tariff critics, including members of the president's own party.

“Unfortunately, this confirms my concerns and is a far too predictable outcome of policies that give companies like Harley-Davidson incentives to make their products elsewhere,\" Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who represents Harley-Davidson's home state, said in a statement. \"We need to hold China accountable for its trade abuses, but that does not need to come at the expense of American workers and businesses.”

The office of Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., whose congressional district sits less than an hour south of the company's headquarters, was additionally critical of the trade stand-off.

\"This is further proof of the harm from unilateral tariffs,\" a spokesperson for Ryan said in a statement. \"The best way to help American workers, consumers, and manufacturers is to open new markets for them, not to raise barriers to our own market.\"

\"PHOTO:
abin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images, FILE
PHOTO: President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence meet with Harley Davidson executives and Union Representatives on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., Feb. 2, 2017.
>

Asked earlier Monday about the news at the day's press briefing and whether such tariff imposition would continue, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders claimed that Trump's \"trade and economic policies have been a huge benefit to the American economy\" and placed the blame on the E.U., arguing that it was \"trying to punish U.S. workers because they have engaged repeatedly in unfair trade practices.\"

\"The president is saying, 'enough is enough,\" she added.

The disclosure Monday from the Milwaukee-based brand comes just three days before Trump is expected to travel to the Milwaukee area for a ceremonial groundbreaking at the first U.S. factory location of Asian electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn. Trump has repeatedly referred to Foxconn's $10 billion investment in southeast Wisconsin – first announced at the White House in June 2017 – as evidence of his commitment to American manufacturing.

Harley-Davidson said Monday that it \"maintains a strong commitment to U.S.-based manufacturing\" and that while the increase in overseas manufacturing \"is not the company's preference,\" it \"represents the only sustainable option to make its motorcycles accessible to customers in the EU and maintain a viable business in Europe.\"

ABC News' Ali Rogin and Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.

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