While everyone’s excited about the Nintendo Switch 2, an upcoming hybrid video game console to succeed the original Switch, a series of ‘Liberation Day’ tax hikes proposed by President Donald Trump could make it an expensive purchase in the US.
Specifically, Nintendo recently revealed that its Switch 2 would come with a $450 price tag, with some new physical games expected to cost as much as $90 apiece, but Trump’s wave of exceptionally high tariffs could bring the console’s price significantly higher for the US market.
What tariffs mean for Nintendo Switch 2
Indeed, the Trump administration recently revealed its 10% tariffs on all foreign imports, alongside the ‘reciprocal’ taxes targeting individual countries, including China with 34% and Vietnam with up to 46%, where a large chunk of manufacturing for the Switch 2 happens – and they will start on April 5.
To offset such exorbitant taxes, companies often pass on the expense to the buyer when their products hit the shelves in Best Buy, Walmart, Target, and others. And it isn’t just the Switch 2 that’s getting beat, either, as the tariffs are bound to affect everything from PS5 to PC handhelds to food.
As the Consumer Technology Association CEO Gary Shapiro explained:
“President Trump’s sweeping global and reciprocal tariffs are massive tax hikes on Americans that will drive inflation, kill jobs on Main Street, and may cause a recession for the U.S. economy. (…) These tariffs will raise consumer prices and will force our trade partners to retaliate.”
However, Duke University associate economics professor Felix Tintelnot said that it’s “costly for firms to change prices, particularly after publicly announcing one,” adding that the Switch 2 price might stay the same, but the price of complementary goods, such as games, would increase.
Earlier, Nintendo reportedly shifted half of its production capabilities for the upcoming Switch 2 to Cambodia and Vietnam in a bid to minimize the effect of Trump’s trade war on China, announcing the price of $450, which was $150 more than the Switch.
Now that the tariffs are to begin, with particularly high fees on China, Vietnam, and Cambodia, it might reflect on the future price of Switch 2, perhaps even raising it by another $150. According to Gene Grossman, a global trade expert and Princeton professor who won the Onassis Prize in International Trade:
“If [the Switch 2] is something that consumers are dying to have ‘at any price,’ then the price will go up. (…) Yes, I think it is quite possible that the price will go even higher than $449.99.”
Moving manufacturing to the US
Meanwhile, moving the manufacturing operations from the affected countries, and to the US would take too much time and an insane amount of money. As Daniel Ahmad, director of research and insights at Niko Partners and a video game market analyst, explained in a recent X post:
Elsewhere, it isn’t just the gaming industry that’s scrambling to make sense of the newly imposed tariffs, as some top automakers, including Honda and Hyundai, have declared interest in taking the plunge and actually relocating some of their production to the US.
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