The Trump Administration has revealed proposals regarding new tariffs of 25% for a variety of products coming from China, including those to do with gaming, as announced by a new document from the Office of the US Trade Representative and reported by GameDaily.biz.
Games consoles and arcade machines are included in the list, and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) told GameDaily that "the video game industry boasts a trade surplus for the American economy. Tariffs will hurt the American economy, its industries, and its consumers."
Also included are "chess, checkers, backgammon, darts and table and parlor games played on boards of a special design and parts thereof; poker chips and dice," as well as the category for playing cards.
"Tariffs will drive prices up, quality down, or more likely both," added Matt Aiken, co-owner and CFO of Keymaster Games, adding that this will cause disruption to players who enjoy tabletop gaming.
These are only proposed tariffs for now though, and the hearings will start on June 17. If they're passed, they could come as early as late June.
This is part of an ongoing battle between the US and China in the tech space, as Huawei was placed on a US trade blacklist after being accused of spying on behalf of the Chinese government using 5G networks, which resulted in Google removing their Android license.
What do you make of these tariffs?