Trump tariffs result in 10% laptop price hike in U.S. says Acer CEO

Acer Laptop prices in the U.S. are set to rise by 10% from March 2025, commented CEO Jason Chen in an interview with The Telegraph. Chen states that the price hike is a direct result of the Trump administration's incoming tariffs.

"We will have to adjust the end user price to reflect the tariff," Chen said to The Telegraph. "We think 10% probably will be the default price increase because of the import tax. It's very straightforward," the Acer CEO continued.

The decision to increase prices was reportedly confirmed last week, with the Taiwanese tech giant remaining unaffected by tariffs on products that left China before February. Therefore, stock hitting U.S. channels afterward will be subject to increased tariffs.

Acer's most expensive laptop on sale, the Acer Predator Triton 17-inch gaming laptop, is currently $3,799 at Best Buy. But, next month that price is set to increase to $4,178 if increases are passed directly to consumers. It's unclear if the blanket price rise will also affect products currently sitting on shelves, but it's likely that as new stock arrives, older stock will also be subject to the price increase.

Chen notes that the incoming tariff may offer an 'excuse' for others in the segment to raise prices by more than 10%. No other PC manufacturer has made a public statement regarding the incoming tariffs and inevitable price rises.

Acer shifted the assembly of its desktop PCs away from China during Trump's previous term and says that it is "looking at different supply chains beyond China", with U.S. production "one of the options" being considered.

The Consumer Technology Association claims that 80% of U.S. laptop imports currently come from China and that the incoming tariff could set U.S. customers back a collective $143 billion, hurting sales. Moreover, the benefits to U.S. industry may be meager, with U.S. production forecast to rise by only 8% and prices potentially rising by up to 45%.

A Digitimes senior supply chain analyst further suggests that the US's proposed 100% tariff on semiconductors could mean that companies such as Nvidia, AMD, and Apple could all face pricing challenges ahead. This is supposedly due to the lack of overseas manufacturing, though the U.S. government is pushing TSMC and Intel to bolster local manufacturing.

Until Acer manages to find a U.S.-based provider for its laptops, the real cost of the tariffs is likely to be passed onto the consumer. With other manufacturers still silent, if Acer's approach is anything to go by, it sets an ill-portent for U.S. consumers.