Over the weekend, President Trump signed an order that will impose stiff tariffs on imports from Canada, China, and Mexico. Trump declared an economic emergency in order to place duties of 10% on all importants from China and 25% from Mexico and China. If these tariffs are sustained, it would cause inflation to worsen significantly threatening the trust that many voters placed in Trump to lower the prices of groceries, gasoline, housing, autos and other goods as he promised. This would include the rise of prices within the video game industry for both software and hardware. Following the announcement, the ESA, which represents several major video game companies, including Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Square Enix, Ubisoft, Epic Games, and Electronic Arts, have released a statement talking about the potential dangers to the industry.
The ESA statement reads:
“Video games are one of the most popular and beloved forms of entertainment for Americans of all ages. Tariffs 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. We look forward to working with the Administration and Congress to find ways to sustain the economic growth supported by our sector.”
Financial analysts have noted how the tariffs could impact the industry such as the launch of Nintendo Switch 2. MST Financial Senior Analyst David Gibson explained how the tariffs in China wouldn’t impact the Switch 2 release but tariffs on Vietnam would impact the launch.