Shares of Sony, Nintendo and other Japanese companies plunge after US tariff hikes

The Japanese stock market reacted with some delay to the introduction of increased import duties by US President Donald Trump, but among the affected issuers were Nintendo and Sony, whose shares fell in price by more than 10% on Monday in Tokyo trading.

Image source: Nintendo

For Japanese gaming console supplier Nintendo, the potential increase in prices for its products in the US due to new tariffs could have serious financial consequences, since the company received more than 40% of its revenue in the US market in the calendar quarter before last. Nintendo was forced to postpone pre-orders in the US for the recently unveiled Switch 2 console until an indefinite time. The previous-generation console was assembled primarily in China and Vietnam, where tariffs on goods from these countries will increase to 44% and 56%, respectively.

Direct imports from Japan will not suffer as much, since local products will be subject to a 34% duty in the United States. In any case, Trump’s determination to redefine trade relations even with his closest geopolitical allies has caused Japanese issuers to fall in price. Rakuten shares have fallen by more than 12%, as have SoftBank Group securities. Shares of Japanese suppliers of chip manufacturing equipment, which is actively exported, have fallen even more, if we talk about Advantest and Disco Corp. The actions of the American administration have also had a negative impact on the Japanese national currency.