Earlier this month, we reported that US President Donald Trump was planning to institute a 10 percent tariff on select Chinese imports soon. Now, we know a little bit more about some of these planned import taxes, including which devices (and, by extension, companies) will be impacted the most.
As reported by The Verge, these tariffs – which are set to take effect on September 1 – will place a 10 percent import tax on smartwatches, fitness trackers, smart speakers, and Bluetooth headphones. Naturally, quite a few big tech companies that will be impacted by this change, but Apple is one of the most notable.
Given that the company relies heavily on device sales to generate revenue and not the collection of user data (unlike other industry players such as Google), Apple's income could take a pretty nasty hit with these tariffs. Amazon's Echo business and Google's Home device line-up will be two other major casualties.
Worse yet, Apple and other tech companies will have even more import taxes to deal with once the holidays are over. Further tariffs on "most consumer electronics" (including laptops, tablets, game consoles, and other devices) will begin on December 15. President Trump told reporters that the timing of those tariffs is intended to protect consumers from potential price hikes during the bulk of the holiday season.
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