Trumps China trade war is killing Roomba sales

iRobot finds itself in a bind. The Massachusetts-based robotics company that makes the Roomba, among other autonomous cleaning devices, saw its stock plummet by nearly 20 percent today, after reporting third quarter earnings yesterday, as a result of lower sales in August and September. But its sales were only lower because it decided to increase prices in the US, an ill-fated move that’s hurt the company domestically.

The culprit? President Trump’s ongoing trade war with China, which iRobot’s chairman and CEO, Colin Angle, cited directly as the cause. “Despite the severity of US tariffs on robotic vacuum cleaners, and the direct and indirect disruptions they are having on US category growth, we remain committed to delivering...

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