Apple AirPods Assembler Plans Production Shift to Vietnam to Dodge Tariffs

GoerTek will rebase production of AirPods in Vietnam, as reported on Oct. 12 by the Nikkei Asian Review, a Japanese economic publication.

Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller announces AirPods during a launch event on September 7, 2016 in San Francisco, California. Stephen Lam/Getty Images

China’s GoerTek, an assembler of AirPods wireless headphones, will become the biggest supplier of Apple equipment so far to move production out of China because of the high tariffs recently imposed by the United States on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods.

GoerTek will relocate production of AirPods to Vietnam, as reported on Oct. 12 by the Nikkei Asian Review, a Japanese economic publication.