Trump’s new tariffs will have a “real and detrimental” impact on games industry, warn experts
Between 10 and 54 per cent will be added to imported goods The post Trump’s new tariffs will have a “real and detrimental” impact on games industry, warn experts appeared first on NME.
Donald Trump finally unveiled details of his proposed import taxes earlier this week (April 2) and the video game industry could be in trouble, experts say.
- READ MORE: Has gaming outpriced the average player?
Back in February, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to impose tariffs on imports from a number of countries but due to backlash, he delayed a majority of them.
On Wednesday, he shared his new, revised plan. Imports from most countries (including the United Kingdom) will now be subject to a 10 per cent tax while others will be taxed at a much higher rate, with China (54 per cent), Vietnam (46 per cent) and Japan (24 per cent) all affected.
Trump said the measures were payback for unfair trade policies, adding that he had been “very kind” in his decisions. He believes the move will “make America wealthy again” but the news triggered a slump in the global stock market, with US markets having their worst day since COVID (via the BBC). China has also retaliated by announcing plans to add an additional 34 per cent tax on all imports from the USA.
Here's the real kick about how Trump's tariffs are going to hike prices for everything: Once that happens, even if the tariffs go away, the prices are never, ever going back down again.
— David DeWitt (@DC_DeWitt) April 2, 2025
A number of world leaders have criticised the tariffs and US video game trade group Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has now warned the financial plan will have “a real and detrimental impact” on the games industry.
Speaking to Stephen Totilo (via his Game File newsletter) ESA Senior Vice President Aubrey Quinn warned that Trump’s tariffs and the response from other countries would make everything more expensive. “Any one product that a consumer would buy is likely to be subject to many of the tariffs announced, all compounded on top of one another,” she explained. “I think what we heard yesterday is not the end of the story, not for the United States, not for other countries.”
However the ESA is reportedly “optimistic that there will be a solution that doesn’t damage U.S. industries, ours included, and doesn’t hurt U.S. consumers.”
When the tariffs were first announced in February, the ESA released a statement that said additional taxes on video game devices and related products “would negatively impact hundreds of millions of Americans and would harm the industry’s significant contributions to the U.S. economy.”
Nintendo announced the price details of the Switch 2 earlier this week. The console will cost £395.99 in the UK and $449.99 in North America while in Japan, gamers will be able to pick up a Japanese-only console for 49,980 yen ($343).
In other news, pre-orders for the Nintendo Switch 2 went live earlier today (April 4) at a number of UK retailers – and they’ve already sold out.
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