Amazon CEO Andy Jassy Says Sellers Could Pass On Increased Costs Due To Trump’s Tariffs To Buyers

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) CEO Andy Jassy said that he thinks sellers on the e-commerce platform could pass on cost increases due to President Donald Trump's tariffs to customers.

Jassy said in an interview with CNBC that not every seller might have enough margins to absorb the cost increases due to Trump’s tariff policy.

For instance, the Trump administration maintained tariffs on Chinese imports despite pausing reciprocal tariffs on 75 countries for 90 days.

In fact, it hiked tariffs from 104% to 125% in response to China’s retaliatory tariffs of 84% on goods imported from the U.S.

“I understand why, I mean, depending on which country you’re in, you don’t have 50% extra margin that you can play with,” said Jassy in the CNBC interview.

A previous Bloomberg report stated that Amazon had canceled orders from China and other Asian countries in light of the Trump administration's tariff announcement.

The report stated that some of these products included air conditioners, scooters, beach chairs, and other merchandise.

Jassy noted that while some customers were stocking up on some items, there wasn’t enough evidence to suggest that it was due to tariff concerns.

“People have not stopped buying, and in certain categories, we do see people buying ahead, but it’s hard to know if it’s just an anomaly in the data because it’s just a few days or how long it’s going to last,” Jassy said, according to the report.

For now, reacting to Wednesday’s tariff pause announcement, the European Union has mirrored the Trump administration’s decision and decided to pause its countermeasures for 90 days, too.

Amazon’s stock was down 3.3% in Thursday’s morning trading session, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, was down 3% at the time of writing.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.<