At a prior date this month, acting U.S. President Donald Trump revealed his next plan aimed to protect the nation’s market against Chinese goods in the current trade war between the Asian country by increasing tariffs on imports by 25 percent. Trump’s plan is to hopefully result with China coming with a response towards meeting somewhere in the middle, but it seems that the hike on imported goods could make a bigger impact on items like video games as well as consoles.

In response to the possible new tax being imposed on the gaming market, hardware manufacturers such as Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony have drafted a letter together on the matter to revise the plan. The letter addressed to General Counsel for the Office of the United States Trade Representatives Joseph Barloon, the console giants are asking to be exempt from the proposed tariff among other points made in the letter.

While we appreciate the Administration’s efforts to protect U.S. intellectual property and preserve U.S. high-tech leadership, the disproportionate harm caused by these tariffs to U.S. consumers and businesses will undermine—not advance—these goals. Accordingly, we respectfully request that the Administration remove HTSUS subheading 9504.50.00, covering video game consoles, from the final list of tariffs, and thus refrain from applying tariffs on these products.

Seeing that Microsoft and Sony already detailed their succeeding consoles for their entry into the approaching next generation, it is transparent to why the companies seek to be excused from the tax against China. As well as Nintendo seeing that a newer iteration of the current Nintendo Switch is planned to release in the coming year.

Deprived from the composed letter, one major point made is that due to the complexity of creating these new consoles would affect the American development industry greatly for both console and part manufacturers. Meaning that on top of the price for console to rise, said hardware will also be limited due to the growing cost of pieces that make the console.

What are your thoughts on Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo taking part in opposing the possible tax on upcoming hardware for the gaming market?