US President Donald Trump on Friday (11 April) announced new electronics exemptions for his infamous tariffs which gives major tech companies a sigh of relief. This is because smartphones, computers, chips and other tech devices and components will be exempted from the reciprocal tariffs. 

As reported by CNBC, the White House said on Saturday (12 April) that the exemptions were made because Trump wanted to give companies time to move their production to the US. Previously, the US President announced a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs but immediately imposed a 145% tariff on China, where most electronics are manufactured.  

The US Customs and Border Protection released an updated guidance on reciprocal tariff exclusions recently, which included 20 product categories that are exempted from reciprocal tariffs. However, it’s not such good news for gamers, as the US Customs and Border Protection doesn’t include video game consoles and machines as part of the exemptions. 

As shared by Redditor u/Puzzleheaded_Cow_435 on the r/NintendoSwtich2 subreddit, video game consoles and machines are considered ‘toys’ by the US Customs and Border Protection rather than ‘electronics’, hence they’re not part of the exemptions. This means that the Nintendo Switch 2’s price may be heavily affected by the tariffs, as while most of the manufacturing was made in Vietnam, a 10% reciprocal tariff is still being imposed on the country during the 90-day tariff pause. Nintendo had also delayed pre-orders for the new console in the US amidst the tariffs. 

So, what do you guys think of the whole situation? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below and stay tuned to TechNave for more trending tech news.