The trade association behind the CES tech event has indicated that President Trump’s new tariffs could potentially lead to a steep increase in console prices, that may reach a nearly 70% price hike in the United States. After the Trade Partnership Worldwide LLC (TPW) conducted a study on the possible impact of President Trump’s proposed tariffs based on promises made during his campaign, Consumer Technology Association (CTA) published the report in January, which indicated a probably increase in consumer electronics such as gaming hardware.
In the time since the initial findings were reported, the CTA has put out on update of the TPW’s report that now assesses the proven impact of Trump’s confirmed tariffs as they are being implemented. This updated report focuses on consumer tech and electronics including video game consoles, smartphones, computer accessories and devices, and laptops among others.
On April 5th 2025, a universal 10% tariff was implemented by the Trump administration as well as the announcement of other “reciprocal” tariffs for many other countries, with most being paused for 3 months on April 9th 2025, except for the tariffs imposed on China, which are currently at a rate of 145%.
According to the TPW’s report, if this delay on tariffs ends in July as anticipated and the higher tariff rates are applied as they have been announced, the prices of gaming consoles and other consumer tech will skyrocket in the United States, with estimates reaching over 69% on video game consoles.
Due to the fact that roughly 87% of video game consoles come from China, according to the TPW report, the 145% tariff will increase the average retail price of game consoles by as much as $428 per system sold. The report also estimates that this could lead to an expected loss of $12 billion in consumer “spending power” on video game systems due to the increased costs.
We’ve already seen price jumps in the video game industry, even without the tariffs having taking effect, seemingly due in-part to the manufacturers’ anticipation of the inflation. Last week Microsoft officially announced a hefty global console price increased that we covered here. Before that, Sony announced a substantial price increase for their PS5 consoles which you can read about here, for the second time now in some parts of the world, with the United States being one of the few countries who have yet to experience the raised costs of the PS5 but this could change come July.
Nintendo even went so far as to delay the opening of pre-orders on their upcoming console, the Switch 2, citing US economic uncertainty as the reason for the delay. Eventually Nintendo opened pre-orders in the United States in late April without having to change the price of the Switch 2, but they did raise the price on its accessories in the US and warned that “other adjustments to the price of any Nintendo product are also possible in the future depending on market conditions”.
Though the tariffs have the ability to lead to a higher demand for US manufacturing, and an overall positive increase in the United States’ economic standing and job market through companies moving their operations to the states, this remains a long-term plan that will unfortunately have some short-term consequences as all of the finer details are ironed out and the global market runs its course.
