Razer laptops are now among the latest collateral damage of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Days after Nintendo paused Switch 2 pre-orders, The Verge reported that Razer has paused direct sales of devices like the Blade 16 gaming laptop in the US.
The Blade 16’s product page, which recently included a pre-order link, now only offers a measly “Notify me” button. In addition, its configurator page, which allowed you to choose a graphics card, processor and other specs as recently as a few days ago, now draws a 404 error. You can still pre-order it in Europe and other regions.
Razer’s laptop product page for US customers now only includes live order links for items like skins, docks and cooling pads.
Although Razer hasn’t publicly linked the pause to Trump’s tariffs, it isn’t hard to connect the two. The levies are scheduled to kick in at 12:01AM ET tonight, dramatically affecting companies that build products in or source parts from countries like China and Taiwan. Tariffs are a tax on imported foreign goods, and businesses often pass the higher cost to consumers. Economists have estimated that consumers will pay an extra $3,800 annually due to Trump’s policy — and that was before Trump announced additional tariffs on China, totaling a staggering 104 percent.
Razer’s pause follows the halting of Switch 2 US pre-orders as Nintendo gauges the situation and ponders its next move. Similarly, Framework stopped selling some of its laptops in the US, and Reuters reported on Tuesday that memory chipmaker Micron plans to add a surcharge to some products. Expect the “Liberation Day” hits to keep coming as tonight’s official beginning of the biggest US tax hike since 1968 approaches.
This article originally appeared on Tech Reader at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/razer-laptops-are-the-latest-trump-tariff-casualty-204844654.html?src=rss
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