(Credit: James Martin)
Trump exempted graphics cards, laptops, and phones from his 125% tariffs on Chinese imports. But for whatever reason, the White House declined to offer the same relief to video game consoles, many of which are made in China.
US Customs identifies video game consoles under code 9504.50, which is absent from the list of products temporarily exempted from Trump's tariffs. The Consumer Technology Association has also told PCMag it expects Chinese-made video game consoles to be tariffed.
As a result, vendors including Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony can expect to pay a cumulative 145% tariff on any consoles shipped from China to the US. Nikkei Asia adds that one major contract manufacturer warns the 145% tariff will apply to any Switch 2 consoles made in China.
However, analysts expect Nintendo will try and bypass the tariffs by shipping Vietnamese-made Switch 2 consoles to the US instead. The company has already been building up a huge stockpile in preparation for the product's June 5 launch.
“Remains to be seen whether Vietnam factories can produce enough to meet demand,” cautions Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad. The other issue is that Trump has only issued a 90-day pause on his reciprocal tariffs for Vietnam and Cambodia, two countries that manufacture a bulk of Nintendo hardware.
Hence, the president’s tariffs still risk disrupting and increasing costs for video game consoles. Although many gamers already have a PS5 or Xbox Series X, the tariffs could hit consumers if they need to buy a replacement or additional accessories. Earlier today, Sony increased prices on its PlayStation 5 console by roughly 10-15% in Europe, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.
“Tariffs mean that the additional costs would be passed along to consumers, resulting in a ripple effect of harm for the industry and the jobs it generates and supports,” the main lobbying group for video games, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), has said.
So far, the ESA has been silent on Trump excluding video game consoles from his tariff exemptions. But it’s possible the group is taking a wait-and-see approach, given that the Trump administration's ever-changing stance the tariffs.
The president and his commerce secretary have also warned that they still plan on tariffing electronics and computers under separate semiconductor-focused tariffs slated to arrive in the next month or so. They have not said what those rates will be.