Oliver Haslam·

Apple Watch, Sonos, Fitbit And More Are Soon Going To Cost 10% More In The US, Here’s Why

Whether you are paying attention to the world of politics right now or not, you’re going to want to pay attention to this little tidbit that is coming out of President Trump’s ongoing trade war with China because it could have a direct impact on your wallet.

Under new tariff proposals we could see the original Apple Watch face an import tariff of 10%, and it’s not alone.

While the iPhone, iPad and Mac are all exempt from the newly proposed tariffs there are some additional casualties including the Fitbit activity trackers and three of Sonos’ speakers, including the popular Play:5 according to a report by Reuters.

The devices have all been determined by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials to fall under an obscure subheading of data transmission machines in the sprawling list of U.S. tariff codes. And that particular subheading is included in the more than 6,000 such codes in President Donald Trump’s most recent round of proposed tariffs released earlier this month […]

The specific products listed in customs rulings are the original Apple Watch; Fitbit’s Charge, Charge HR and Surge models; and Sonos’s Play:3, Play:5 and SUB speakers.

What is perhaps the most strange aspect of this story has to be the way the devices chosen for the tariff appear to be, at best, completely random. The fact the original Apple Watch is impacted but not others is particularly odd, and with Trump having previously called for a boycott of all Apple products it is perhaps surprising that things are not much worse for the Cupertino company here. The original Apple Watch is no longer for sale in the US anyway, suggesting the impact will be minimal. Unless of course you want to buy one of the other items listed.

Thankfully there may be changes to this proposal in due course and as some experts are saying, with companies not likely to take the move laying down.

But if companies have products whose tariff codes are on the list, they have three options, experts said: Advocate to get the code dropped from the list during the public comment period, apply for an exclusion once tariffs go into effect, or try to have their products classified under a different code not on the list.

The last option could prove difficult due to the thousands of codes covered, said one former U.S. trade official.

(source: Reuters)

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