China taxation on video games challenged

[Evie ❤✿]

The United States government is proposing a tariff on video game consoles/products made in China imported into the US. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are all appealing against it and argue that it could seriously affect the industry in terms of Chinese relations. This also affects mobile devices.The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) say:

Entertainment said:

"The video game industry is a national leader in job creation, trade, innovation, audience engagement, consumer protection and creative expression," an ESA spokesperson said in an emailed statement Wednesday. "Importantly, our industry also boasts a trade surplus for the American economy. Tariffs will erode innovation, decrease job opportunities for American workers and increase prices for consumers."

Oscar said:

"Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony sent a letter dated June 17 to the Office of the United States Trade Representative requesting that video game consoles be removed from the list of products covered by tariffs. The companies say a tariff on consoles would stifle innovation and harm the larger gaming ecosystem -- threatening jobs and injuring consumers, video game developers and retailers."

Thoughts on this? I'm on the against taxation side personally.

[nocturnal YL]

The motivation behind the tariff sounds rather simple to me: the US is handing China too much money, and it has to stop even at the expense of the US economy. I doubt the reasoning presented here will actually convince the administration.

The document itself looks like it's written by Microsoft. For every Sony and Nintendo example on why are they innovative, there are three for Microsoft. Maybe they're the ones who took the initiative?