Buying a mobile phone or laptop could become infinitely more expensive in 2025

Buying a mobile phone, laptop, gaming console or any other electronic product can be much more expensive. This is bad news. It’s good that for now everything remains in the realm of speculation, but there are reasons to fear an increase in sales of laptops by 68% and game consoles by 58%. Cause? Tariffs that President-elect Donald Trump is threatening to impose on Chinese products.

This possible scenario has particularly concerned the CTA (Consumer Technology Association), which confirmed during CES that the tariff policy sought by President-elect Donald Trump would not create more jobs, but could instead cost thousands of people. .

“At their core, these proposals are tools of the American government to extract more taxes from the American people,” STA said. “We have already seen this film and we know how it will end. Tariffs will not create more jobs or manufacturing in the United States. In fact, the opposite may happen: over time, there will be a decline in productivity and job losses as workers and companies have less access to affordable technology,” he stressed.

How much will computers, consoles and cell phones become more expensive, taking into account tariffs?

The CTA has prepared a chart projecting price increases for products such as cell phones, game consoles, laptops and tablets, among others, if Trump imposes tariffs of 10% to 70% and 20% to 120%.

For the first scenario, the CTA calls for an increase in laptop prices of approximately $357, an increase of 45% from current prices. Video game consoles will be another product hit the hardest (forget the Switch 2 if tariffs come), with an increase of about $246.

If tariffs were between 20% and 120%, prices would be even crazier. CTA forecasts a $540 increase in laptop sales and a $305 increase in gaming console sales.

“The proposed tariffs will be especially expensive for those who want to purchase laptops and tablets,” CTA noted. “The current tariff on these products is zero and they are not subject to any Section 301 tariff. These tariffs would result in an effective tax of 57.3% on imports of laptops and tablets,” the organization concluded.

Since there is no electronics manufacturing industry in the United States, the CTA expects that if tariffs are approved, the most likely scenario will be a sharp reduction in purchases of this type of product. For example, it is estimated that laptop sales could decline by 44 percent by 2025.