Never mind, President Trump truths on Truth Social that electronics (including from China) are still subject to tariffs

US President Donald Trump holds a chart as he delivers remarks on reciprocal tariffs during an event in the Rose Garden entitled "Make America Wealthy Again" at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 2, 2025. — (Image credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

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4/13/25: In a fresh truth on Truth Social (Trump's proprietary Twitter), the American president truthed that there will actually not be an exception to tariffs on electronics and computers. "The Fake News knows this, but refuses to report it," the 45th and 47th president truthed. It's still unclear what was going on with the CBP announcement about the exception. The short of it? The president says that this will lead to a Golden Age of America, while economists and supply chain experts say to get ready for $2,000 iPhones. I can't wait to find out which one comes to pass.

A post or &quot;Truth&quot; on Truth social where Donald Trump says there will not be an exception on electronics in his new tariff regime. There's some other stuff too. &quot;20% Fentanyl Tariff,&quot; &quot;Golden Age of America,&quot; you know the drill. I don't have Truth Social and I'm not going to write the whole thing out it's like 200 words. You've heard this stuff before you can imagine the rest. — (Image credit: Donald Trump)

The reasoning behind the tariffs similarly depends on who you're talking to. "Normal" conservatives will say it's Art of the Deal Madman Theory to prove that the US means business in trade negotiations with the rest of the world. More "esoteric" or "avant-garde" right wingers say it's in the name of transitioning the US back into a manufacturing economy, a sort of "reindustrialization" that has never been implemented in world history. Countries have industrialized, but never transitioned away and then back again, much less the unprecedentedly wealthy consumer economy at the center of the global financial system.

Wedbush Securities global head of technology research Dan Ives told CNBC that it would cost Apple an estimated $30 billion over the course of three years just to move 10% of its supply chain from Asia to the US with a "major disruption." The Guardian reported earlier how investment bank UBS estimated this might look on the ground: A 79% increase (about $1,000) in the price of an iPhone 16 Pro Max, as one example.

That "category five price storm," in the words of Ives, is likely the primary motivation behind this new, semi truck-sized hole in America's tariff armor, though I'm sure panicked tech CEOs have been lobbying their hearts out to mitigate things as well.

We're firmly back in "only kind of doing the tariffs" territory, then, but it's unclear how all of this will trickle down to us gamers⁠—won't somebody think of the gamers! US preorders for the Nintendo Switch 2 have been on ice pending any tariff-related increase of its $450 MSRP, while I've been sweating how this might impact the RX 9070 XT graphics card purchase I've been weighing.

Buying a GPU was already excruciating thanks to shortages, scalpers, and manufacturing partners (like MSI or Gigabyte) really stretching the "suggested" part of "Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price." In the worst case scenario of the new Trumpenomics, at least a good mid-range card can last you a lot longer than it used to⁠—I could definitely ride out my RTX 3070 another few generations if RX 9070s and 5070s start commanding $2,000 a pop out of nowhere.

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Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch. You can follow Ted on Bluesky.