Today was supposed to mark the availability of pre-orders for the Nintendo Switch 2 in North America. However, after announcing a delay for the U.S. market due to tariffs, it's now been confirmed that Canada will also experience a delay.
"Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in Canada will not start on April 9, 2025 in order to align with the timing of pre-orders to be determined in the U.S.," Nintendo of Canada told Canadian tech site MobileSyrup. "Nintendo will provide updated information at a later date. The launch date of June 5, 2025 is unchanged."
This is effectively the same message that Nintendo game U.S. retailers when it announced that tariffs would delay the Switch 2's pre-order start date. The major difference is that the Canadian statement does not specifically mention the new tariffs.
Last week, Nintendo specifically stated that pre-orders in the U.S. were being delayed to give the company time "to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions." There's been no update on the timeline since.
Nintendo initially announced that pre-orders for the Nintendo Switch 2 would go live in the United States and Canada on April 9th at a price of $449.99, or $499.99 when bundled with Mario Kart World. Since then, Trump has now imposed what he calls "reciprocal tariffs" on imports from about 90 nations in an attempt to ease the trade deficit between the United States and other countries. A 10% across-the-board tax has been imposed on all imports to the United States, while some countries face an even higher percentage.
The Switch 2 is primarily manufactured in Vietnam and Cambodia after shifting production away from China. But even so, Vietnam is facing a 46% tariff while Cambodia faces a 49% tariff. All of this threatens to impact the cost of the Switch 2 for Americans, who almost always shoulder the burden of tariffs. It's rare for companies to eat the cost of tariffs, which means the price is often passed on to the consumer. It's unclear if the initial $449.99/$499.99 Switch 2 price that was announced actually accounted for the potential increase in cost due to tariffs. That's perhaps why Nintendo has no delayed pre-orders as it seeks to figure out the impact of these tariffs.
In the meantime, Switch 2 pre-orders are still going live in other global markets such as the U.K. where it's already selling out. Despite concerns over the initial price announcement of the Switch 2 console and its games, it seems there's still plenty of demand for it.
Do you plan on purchasing a Switch 2 when it becomes available in the U.S. and Canada?