Leopards Eating MAGA Faces (The Trump Policies Being Implemented Thread)

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Trump’s Proposed Tariffs Will Hit Gamers Hard​


A study found that the cost of consoles, monitors, and other gaming goods might jump during Trump's presidency.

By Matthew Gault Published November 7, 2024 | Comments (213)

U.S. President Donald Trump, right, and Xi Jinping, China's president, greet attendees waving American and Chinese national flags during a welcome ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017.
U.S. President Donald Trump, right, and Xi Jinping, China's president, greet attendees waving American and Chinese national flags during a welcome ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017. © Qilai Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Donald Trump has won the presidency and, if he actually goes through with some of his policy proposals, the consequences for gamers will be stark. One of the reasons electronics are so cheap in America is its robust trade relationship with China.

During the campaign, Trump said he’d impose a baseline 60% tariff on Chinese exports. If he does that, the price of all the stuff gamers love is going to go up. Laptop prices could spike by almost 50%. The cost of video game consoles could rise around 40%, making the upcoming PS5 Pro cost almost $1,000. The Switch 2 may be backward compatible, but it may cost quite a bit more than the original.

Trump campaigned on punishing China for a perceived trade imbalance with the United States. It was a winning issue for him in his original campaign, and one he acted on, and he spent time on the campaign trail saying he’d do it again. Trump’s broad plan is to encourage a return of U.S. manufacturing through restrictive tariffs. A tariff is a flat tax on a trade good. Trump’s two big proposals are a 10% to 20% import tariff on all goods from other countries and a 60% tariff on goods from China.

China does not pay the cost of those tariffs. The companies importing the goods from China do. Companies have been clear that if tariffs raise their cost of doing business, they’re going to pass the costs onto the consumer. “If we get tariffs, we will pass those tariff costs back to the consumer,” AutoZone CEO Philip Daniele said on an earnings call in September.

The Consumer Technology Association, the trade association behind CES, published a study in October that looked at the possible effects of a 60% tariff on consumer electronics. It’s important to keep in mind that the study was commissioned by a trade group that stands to lose an enormous amount of cash should the tariff go through on electronics. That said, it’s still a strong indicator of where the industry’s head is at and what it believes would be a worst-case scenario when Trump takes office.

The study looked at ten different consumer tech products: smartphones, laptops, connected devices, video game consoles, and various computer accessories. According to the study, a tariff on electronics from China would have the immediate effect of spiking prices and the long-term effect of driving manufacturing to other countries. Critically though, those other countries would not be the United States. It’s still too expensive to make stuff in America and keep costs down.

“Across the board, the tariffs will cause significant price increases for the U.S. consumer,” the study said. The CTA estimated that laptop and tablet costs would go up 46%, smartphones would go up 26%, and video game consoles would spike 40%. That kind of increase would put the cost of the forthcoming PS5 Pro at just under $1,000. A top-of-the-line GPU, the kind used for AI and gaming, could bloat from around $900 to $1,300. The price of monitors would go up $109, desktops would go up around $74 overall, and headphones could cost an extra $35.

CTA VP of International Trade, Ed Brzytwa, stressed the damage tariffs would have on consumers in an interview with Tom’s Hardware. “Tariffs are regressive taxes that Americans pay. They’re not paid by a foreign government,” Brzytwa said. “They’re taxes that importers in the United States pay and foreign governments and foreign countries do not pay those tariffs. So when I say they’re regressive, it means that they harm poor people and people of little means more than they harm wealthy people.”

Trump’s tariff promise is probably one he’ll keep. During his first term, he imposed tariffs as high as 50% on the country, but tech industry lobbyists successfully carved out an exemption for electronics. It’s impossible to know if they’ll be able to pull off the same feat this time around.

If you were planning on upgrading your PC, building one from scratch or even buying a console, it might be wise to pull the trigger on it before Trump is inaugurated on January 20, 2025. The price after might skyrocket.
 

Rarely-Wrong Liggins

Name another Liggins hot I'm just honest.
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Most of the Latino Trump voters are going to be lining up for Border Patrol jobs. They're looking forward to that hiring bonanza. These people will gladly deport their own cousins. They will be the leapords.

As far as these Tariffs are concerned we'll see how that goes. The news media rolled out the same song and dance last time he put Tariffs on a bunch of Chinese trade goods and the impact on the consumer was negligible. Also I wouldn't make business decisions based upon Trump's stream of conscience ramblings. Making purchasing decisions based upon Trump's tariff talk is bad business as it's nothing more than a concept right now.

You're going to see a lot of Reddit babble full of unsourced tweets and stories. The LEMF sub is a karma whore's paradise. I don't want to hear whining about misinformation when people are willing to pass off Reddit fanfiction as news.
 

TAYLONDO SAMSWORTHY

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I've never been the type to feel like this, but fukk it they get what they deserve...:yeshrug:

My wife and I will be fine the next few years and I make enough money where most of the price hikes shouldn't be that big of a deal....the poor muhfukkas that voted for this racist jackass are gonna have to hold their own nuts though....:manny:


THIS.









BOOTSTRAPS :mjlit:
 
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