The Trump administration is looking to impose $300 billion worth of tariffs on goods imported from China, and the companies that make so many of your video games are not happy about it. In a joint letter signed by Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony, the companies have asked for gaming consoles to be removed from the list of additionally taxed items. “The video game console supply chain has developed in China over many years of investment by our companies and our partners,” reads the statement, which was sent to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. “It would cause significant supply chain disruption to shift sourcing entirely to the United States or a third country, and it would increase costs — even beyond the cost of the proposed tariffs — on products that are already manufactured under tight margin conditions.”
According to the companies, 96 percent of gaming consoles imported to the U.S. came from China last year, and the proposed tariffs would amount to a 25 percent tax on the items. The statement continues, “For those purchases that do go forward despite tariffs, consumers would pay $840 million more than they otherwise would have.” It is not yet certain if these additional duties will go into effect, but citing a study by the Trade Partnership group, the makers of Nintendo, Xbox, and Sony systems claim that “[e]ven after accounting for new tariff revenue, the result is a net $350 million loss for the U.S. economy for each year the tariffs remain in effect, with the burden carried by U.S. consumers.” Looks like farmers and video-game giants are standing on the same side of this trade war.
