Amazon customers should prepare for higher prices on goods from China, CEO says
The ongoing tariff war between the U.S. and China likely means shoppers at Amazon will have to pay more for some products, the company's CEO said Thursday.
During an interview on CNBC with "Squawk Box" co-anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said third-party sellers on the retailing site hit with tariffs will likely have to “pass that cost on” to consumers.
"We'll have to see how it all plays out. But if you made me guess, you know, I'm guessing that sellers will pass that cost on," he said. "I think they'll try, and I understand why. I mean, depending on which country you're in, you don't have 50% extra margin that you can play with, so I think they'll try and pass the cost on."
Amazon CEO: Trying to 'keep prices … as low as possible'
Amazon has reportedly canceled some orders for products made in China amid the ongoing trade war over tariffs.
Jassy stopped short of confirming the reports but said, "whenever you have any threat of any kind of discontinuity, as a team you have to think about what are the things you can do to help customers. So we're doing everything we can to try and keep prices the way they've been for customers, as low as possible."
President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a 90-day pause from levying double-digit tariffs on goods from dozens of countries, instead lowering tariffs on many to 10% for 90 days.
However, Trump raised the tariff on Chinese goods to 145%, the White House clarified Thursday.
Amid the tariff uncertainty, Amazon has conducted "some strategic-forward inventory buys to get as many items as makes sense for customers at lower prices," Jassy said, adding the retailing giant has also renegotiated some deals to also achieve lower prices.
Since Trump announced tariffs, some shoppers have been stockpiling goods and making certain purchases sooner than planned. "In certain categories, we do see a little bit of people buying ahead," Jassy said. "But it's hard to know if it's just an anomaly in the data because (it's been) just a few days or how long it's going to last. But you know, we're going to do, as I said, everything we possibly can to keep prices low for customers."
Chinese companies that sell products on Amazon are planning to increase prices for U.S. shoppers because of the tariff, Wang Xin, the head of the Shenzhen Cross-Border E-Commerce Association, which represents more than 3,000 Amazon sellers, told Reuters on Thursday.
Tariffs will likely also lead to customs delays and higher logistics costs, she said.
"This isn't just a tax issue, it's that the entire cost structure gets entirely overwhelmed," she said. "It'll be very hard for anyone to survive in the U.S. market."
Mike Snider is a reporter on Paste BN’s Trending team. You can follow him on Threads, Bluesky, X and email him at mikegsnider & @mikegsnider.bsky.social & @mikesnider & msnider@usatoday.com
What's everyone talking about? Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day