Nintendo Trump's Tariff Pause Saves the Day for Release of Switch 2 Console

Nintendo fans across the US are breathing a sigh of relief as they tear apart the boxes housing their new Nintendo Switch 2 video game consoles.

- Mack DeGeurin

On-again, off-again trade tariffs implemented by Donald Trump, which precipitated pre-order delays from Nintendo, made the June 5 release date of the highly coveted hardware feel more like a hope than a certainty. A potential price increase from $450 (£330) loomed over launch day, but would-be buyers' fears did not materialize.

Nintendo's maneuvering around Trump's tariffs isn't over, though—far from it. The Japanese console maker managed to launch its device within a 90-day tariff pause issued by the US president. If tariffs on countries such as India and Japan return to the levels proposed during Trump's "Liberation Day" speech at the start of April, however, experts say Nintendo will have to limber up for yet another delicate trade policy dance.

Nintendo's competitors—and essentially anyone shipping electronics to the US—have been watching the Switch 2 saga.

"What saved Nintendo in this case was that Trump chickened out," said the international economist Robert Johnson, a professor at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

Since its launch in March 2017, the Switch has become one of the best-selling video game consoles in history, with more than 150 million units sold worldwide.

Nintendo teased its successor in January and gave a full reveal in April, announcing the device would ship on June 5 with a hefty $450 price tag in the US (or $500 when bundled with Mario Kart World). Hours later, Trump stepped up to a podium at the Rose Garden to announce a new volley of tariffs on imports on countries with a trade deficit with the US.