This week, U.S. and China officials are meeting to discuss the ongoing trade war. But two U.S. companies aren’t waiting around to see if these two superpowers make amends. Fitbit, as well as Tile (maker of the Bluetooth-enabled location tracker), have confirmed that they will be moving their manufacturing units out of China.
By January 2020, all of Fitbit’s manufacturing operations will be outside of China. The main reason for this shift is to avoid the heavy tariffs being subjected to the goods originating from China. This announcement comes well before the next round of tariffs that goes live from December 15 affecting an additional $300 billion worth of Chinese imports.
Duties on gadgets like smartwatches and Bluetooth trackers with low margins will seriously affect their competitiveness in the U.S. market. And considering how the relationship between the U.S. and China has been deteriorating recently, it makes sense why these companies would want to mitigate their risks.
Fitbit recently unveiled the Versa 2 smartwatch in the U.S. featuring an OLED display, NFC, Spotify, and Alexa for $199.
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