Beth Ponsot

The Icelandic bike manufacturer Lauf set up a new assembly facility in Harrisonburg, Virginia, in 2023, bucking a decades-long trend that saw almost the entire industry move overseas. Enter Trump. You might think Lauf would be celebrating its foresight amid a flurry of new tariffs meant to re-shore American manufacturing. Instead, Lauf, like many other manufacturers, is grappling with levies on the imported parts and materials it needs to build bikes in the US — levies that often exceed those on completed bikes imported from countries like Cambodia. In today’s @Bloomberg Big Take, @LouKCurtis and I dig into the challenges facing American manufacturers through the lens of one bike company. Added bonus: We also look at X-Lab, a Chinese upstart brand that is taking the cycling world by storm.