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According to a report from ijiwei, citing Tom’s Hardware, the White House’s 125% tariff on all Chinese imports is expected to have a major effect on the electronics sector, given that a large number of tech companies — including U.S. firms like Dell and HP — rely on manufacturing operations in China.
Tom’s Hardware, citing Bloomberg, highlights that the U.S. depends on Chinese imports for a significant share of several key tech products by value: 86% of game consoles (USD 6 billion), 79% of PC monitors (USD 5 billion), 73% of smartphones (USD 41 billion), 70% of lithium-ion batteries (USD 16 billion), and 66% of laptops (USD 32 billion).
This suggests that consumers and businesses dependent on these items will have few or no substitute options for items not sourced from China. If President Trump’s proposed 125% tariff on China remains in effect, the prices of approximately USD 100 billion of products could double, as the report points out.
The report notes that though gaming consoles are primarily sold to consumers directly, the other products mentioned above are mostly used by businesses, which could lead to rising operational costs—potentially creating upward pressure on prices and fueling broader inflation.
Nintendo, Apple, and PC Makers Adjust Amid Trade Pressures
The ripple effects are already becoming visible. As reported by The Verge, PC brands such as Razer and Framework have temporarily suspended new product sales in the U.S. while they assess how to respond to the situation.
Meanwhile, as noted by The Japan Times, despite increased tariffs on China, most U.S. trading partners have been granted a 90-day reprieve from higher tariffs—giving Nintendo time to ramp up Switch 2 shipments to the U.S., which accounts for over a third of its sales, since nearly a third of Switch 2 units are assembled in Vietnam, which would have faced a 46% tariff but now falls under the 10% universal rate.
As for Apple, according to CNBC, the company has been actively working in recent years to diversify its supply chain and reduce its dependence on China. Currently, tariffs on Vietnamese imports were lowered from 46% to 10%, while those on Indian goods were cut from 26% to 10%. These changes could allow Apple to serve a larger share of its U.S. market through factories outside China, as noted by CNBC.
Still, CNBC points out that most of Apple’s iPhones and other devices are produced in China, which was not granted a tariff exemption. A report from The Wall Street Journal, citing sources, reveals that Apple plans to increase iPhone shipments from India to the U.S. to help offset the costs of Chinese tariffs, as suppliers state that relocating iPhone production to the U.S. was not considered feasible, since the associated costs would significantly outweigh the tariffs.
In response to the new tariffs, China has also taken countermeasures. According to a report from TechNews, citing Tom’s Hardware, China has introduced new export restrictions on rare earth materials critical to radio frequency (RF) and data storage applications—specifically scandium and dysprosium. These restrictions may affect major industry players including Broadcom, GlobalFoundries, Qualcomm, TSMC, Samsung, Seagate, and Western Digital, as the report highlights.
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(Photo credit: The White House)
