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Switch 2 launch detailed hours before U.S. President Trump announced new import taxes

On Tuesday, Nintendo announced that Canadian pre-orders for their upcoming Switch 2 console have been pushed back due to a delay in U.S. pre-orders. Despite this, the June 5th launch date remains unchanged.

On Friday, the company declared that the release date of pre-orders for the system in the United States has been postponed from April 9th, originally scheduled. This decision was made in order to evaluate how tariffs might affect the market and any potential changes in conditions.

On April 2 at 9:00 a.m. EDT, Nintendo revealed the worldwide launch of its Switch 2 on April 9 with a price of $449.99. Following this announcement, U.S. President Donald Trump declared new tariff taxes on imports seven hours later, after the stock markets closed in the United States, Japan, and other countries. Consequently, stocks have fallen across the board since then.

According to the Financial Times, since 2019, Nintendo has shifted some of its production for the original Switch from China to Vietnam. Currently, factories in Vietnam and Cambodia produce more than half of the hardware intended for the United States market. In preparation for potential tariffs, Nintendo has stockpiled hundreds of thousands of Switch 2 systems in the United States.

Background on New U.S. Tariffs

On April 5th, President Trump declared that he would impose a 10% tax on all goods imported into the US from other countries. This was followed by the announcement that "reciprocal" tariffs would be put in place against several countries starting from April 9th. Vietnam and Cambodia were given the highest additional tariffs at 46% and 49%, respectively, while Japan and China received 24% and 34%, respectively.

Since the U.S. had previously imposed tariffs on China, the current combined tariff rate for imports from China to the U.S. would be 54% if we add up all the existing and new rates. After Trump announced his April 2 tariff increase, China responded with its own additional 34% tariff starting from April 10. Trump then threatened another 50% rate if this new tariff was enacted on April 9. If this happens, the final combined tariff rate would be 104%.

The US government stated that they have the option to increase or decrease tariffs based on other countries' reactions. On Friday, Vietnam agreed to negotiate with the US about the tariffs.

The recently announced US tariffs will impact goods manufactured in China, Vietnam, Japan, and other Asian countries, including toys, figurines, and merchandise. However, the White House has released a list of products that are exempt from these additional tariffs, which includes printed books, brochures, leaflets, and similar printed matter. This means that physically printed comic books from Asia will not be subject to these extra charges.




Source: MobileSyrup ( link ) (Bradly Shankar) via IGN ( link ) , GameStop Canada's Instagram account ( link ) , White House ( link ) via The Bookseller ( link ) (Matilda Battersby), IGN ( link ) (Milton Griepp)