President Trump announced a trade deal with Vietnam, which puts a 20% tariff on all goods originating from the country. This might seem like a good deal, especially as the latter originally had a 46% tariff before Trumppaused the tariffs he put on all the U.S.’s trade partners for 90 days, dropping down the numbers to just 10%. Unfortunately, Nintendo, which manufactures the Switch 2 consoles in Vietnam, used the 10% tariff amount for its earnings forecast, according toPCMag. This means that the tariff change may throw a wrench into its plans.
The Nintendo Switch 2 launch has been relatively successful, with the companyselling 3.5 million units on the opening weekendand obliterating the record of the original Switch by a full million. But despite seemingly arriving in good numbers in the U.S. and the U.K., customers from other countries have complained of shortages, with its president, Shuntaro Furukawa,apologizing to shareholdersfor failing to anticipate the massive demand.
It has also been a victim of geopolitics, with theconsole revealed to the worldon July 22, 2025 — the same day that Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs, which imposed massive taxes on Vietnamese goods. This meant that the $449 launch price of the console might no longer be viable and could force Nintendo and its retailers to hike up their prices. This led to adelay in pre-orders, as the company was probably considering its next moves. Thankfully, these massive tariffs were suspended for 90 days starting April 9, even though a base 10% tariff remained. Despite that, Nintendo was able toretain the original launch priceconsole and had pre-orders starting on April 24 — accessories saw modest price increases, though.
One thing that the company counted on was that the tariffs for Vietnamese goods would remain at 10%. However, this is not the case, and the recent tariff increase might be too much for the company to absorb the changes. As of now, there is no finalized official document, yet, that confirms these changes, so we don’t know if and when this will take effect. Nintendo is likely holding its breath until everything is finalized before making an announcement. But if the 20% tariff is implemented, we might see the price of the Switch 2 jump from $450 to $500.
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Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.
