Nintendo Delays Switch 2 Preorders Over Trump Tariffs
Within hours of President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would impose double-digit tariffs on all imports from nearly every country, markets reacted negatively with stock sell-offs and plummeting share prices.
Nintendo has responded by delaying orders of the Switch 2, its highly anticipated new gaming console, as a direct result of Trump’s tariffs.
Nintendo unveiled the console—a fully updated version of the Switch, first released in 2017—on Wednesday and announced it would be available for preorder on April 9, ahead of a June release. But hours later, Trump announced tariffs on dozens of countries—including 24 percent on Japan, where the company is based, and 46 percent on Vietnam. As Daniel Idfresne wrote for Reason last month, Nintendo planned in 2019 to shift console production to Vietnam “to avoid Trump’s trade war with China.”
On Friday, Nintendo announced it would take a step back. “Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the U.S. will not start April 9, 2025 in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions,” a representative told CNBC. So far, the June release date is unchanged, but a new preorder date is yet to be announced.
There is precedent for the move. Nintendo exited the Brazilian market in 2015 over that country’s high tariffs. It did not return until 2020, one year after then-President Jair Bolsonaro lowered taxes on imported games
Article from Reason.com
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