Nintendo Switch 2 cost could soar because of Trump's tariffs say experts

Donald Trump's tariffs are in effect and will affect all sorts of goods being imported into the US, including tech such as video game consoles, laptops and their components and physical video games.

There are 25 per cent tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada and 20 per cent on China; tariffs are taxes charged on goods imported from other countries.

Focusing on video games specifically, if the Nintendo Switch 2 is manufactured in China (reports say the majority of Nintendo Switch production is still there) and imported to the US, this means it will cost American gamers more to purchase the console, according to a video games analyst.

Daniel Ahmad is a director of research and insights at Niko Partners who analyses the video games market in Asia and MENA (Middle East and North Africa) and says it is consumers that are likely to bear the brunt of Trump's tariffs.

He posted on social media: "20 per cent China tariff impacts video game consoles, smartphones, laptops etc.

"25 per cent tariff on Mexico impact physical video games. China is where most hardware continued to be manufactured, same for Mexico with discs.

"Despite mitigation efforts, US gamers will pay more."

Ahmad followed that up and said: "The current mitigation efforts primarily revolves around shifting manufacturing to Southeast Asia, which some companies have already been doing.

"It means the situation isn't as bad as the original proposed tariffs on consoles back in 2019 but will still have an impact."

In 2019, there was a trade war between the US and China, again when Donald Trump was President, when 25 per cent tariffs on a number of different Chinese manufactured electronics was enforced but video games consoles ended up being one of the exemptions.

To make absolutely sure consumers were not affected, Nintendo moved some of the production for its Switch consoles out to Vietnam to avoid these tariffs.

Part of its production line remains in Vietnam and importing Switch 2 consoles from here to the US, instead of the ones manufactured in China, could be a way for Nintendo to get around the tariffs so its American consumers don't have to pay more to buy the console.

But none of this is yet known.

For more from indy100, check out our best 100 video games of all time and our recent review of Monster Hunter Wilds.

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