Signal tonies opened a Vietnam plant one day before US tariffs on Chinese goods

Summary

The German toy maker tonies, whose CEO Tobias Wann is interviewed in McKinsey's report, had long manufactured its Toniebox hardware only in China. The company opened a production site in Vietnam on 1 April 2025. The very next day the United States announced sizable tariffs aimed particularly at Chinese-made goods. The new plant allowed tonies to supply the US market from Vietnam at much lower tariff rates. Together with a lower cost base, this let the company absorb the tariff shock without noticeably raising prices. Wann describes the timing as luck meeting preparation, and McKinsey cites the case as an example of reducing geopolitical exposure by shifting manufacturing.