Nintendo Switch 2 US launch in jeopardy: After Trump's tariffs pause, it could cost more than twice as much to buy it

It was and remains the most heated debate since April 2. The price of Nintendo Switch 2 (rather than the price of the console, the general price increase of its games) divides fans. Some feel that the console's new features and innovations are enough to justify the price, while others maintain that the brand has always been an affordable way for a large majority to access this form of entertainment. However, the June 5 launch of the console is going to face an obstacle they could not have foreseen: Donald Trump.

Or rather, his administration in the American government. The United States has started what everyone is already calling a trade war, both with its direct rivals such as China and Russia, as well as with its historical allies in Europe. This has already begun to take its toll on a multitude of markets, with both exports to and imports from the United States being taxed. In the case of products manufactured in China, such as smartphones, televisions, and game consoles (such as Nintendo Switch 2), the tariffs announced by Trump are 144%, 152%, and even 170% for certain products, as reported by Nikkei Asia and corroborated by Bloomberg. At the moment there is a moratorium and a global tariff of 10%, but once the deadline expires, prices are going to skyrocket, which has already caused Nintendo to suspend pre-orders of the console in the country.

A 144% tariff, in the current climate, would be unaffordable for the sale of any product, let alone the launch of a new product such as Nintendo's console. If Nintendo moves production to peripheral countries such as Vietnam (where it already has some production), the tariff would be lower, but still high. The most plausible option is that Nintendo even moves part of the production to the United States, as Sony is already doing with PlayStation. The third and most unlikely path is that Nintendo will end up postponing the US launch of Nintendo Switch 2, but that would practically condemn the hardware to premature failure.

Expectations in the rest of the world for the console's launch remain excellent, and many European retailers have sold out in record time. Tariffs or no tariffs, Nintendo Switch 2 will have the best launch ever, but with the trade war looming, it's going to have a hard time keeping up with gamers' enthusiasm.