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Amazon.com Inc. said Tuesday it will not display the cost of US tariffs on products after the White House blasted the reported move and President Donald Trump called Jeff Bezos to complain.
“The team that runs our ultra-low-cost Amazon Haul store has considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products,” the company said in a statement. “Teams discuss ideas all the time. This was never a consideration for the main Amazon site and nothing has been implemented on any Amazon properties.
” Amazon spokesperson Tim Doyle said in a subsequent statement that the proposal “was never approved and is not going to happen.” As he prepared to leave for an event in Michigan to mark his 100th day in office, Trump confirmed that he had spoken with the Amazon founder following a brief Punchbowl News report that the e-commerce giant would start displaying the cost of US tariffs on products next to the total listed price. “He was terrific,” the president told reporters.
“He solved the problem very quickly, and he did the right thing.” The administration’s broadsides against Amazon on Tuesday highlighted the potential political risk for companies if they decide to break out the cost of tariffs for customers. Earlier Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt seized on the Punchbowl report, blasting the purported plans to show tariff costs as “a hostile and political act.
” “Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years?” she told reporters at a briefing, flanked by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Leavitt said she had spoken to Trump about the report, and went on to criticize Amazon’s compliance with censorship demands by the Chinese government. Read More: Amazon launches its first internet satellites to compete against SpaceX's Starlinks Amazon shares fell as much as 2.
1% at the open of trading in New York after the White House’s comments, before paring losses. The firm is set to report earnings after the bell on Thursday with its stock down more than 20% from a February record high. Companies like Temu and fast-fashion giant Shein Group Ltd.
are bracing for a 120% tariff on many of their products due to the US government’s decision to end the “de minimis” exemption for small packages from mainland China and Hong Kong. Some Amazon shipments also qualify for that exemption, but the company also buys goods in bulk, which it sends to its US warehouses. Amazon launched its Haul service – which ships items directly from sellers, including in China – last year, a response to the rise of Temu, the low-cost shopping app that gained traction despite long shipping times.
Temu has thrived in part thanks to duty-free shipments on goods valued under $800. Amazon’s prospective import charge disclosure was related to the end of that de minimis exemption, not the White House’s tariff plans, according to a person familiar with the matter. Exporters in recent years had capitalized on the exemption, which allowed goods valued at under $800 to enter the US without tariffs or customs duties.
Bessent said that any move to highlight tariffs was unfair when the costs of policies implemented by other administrations — including regulations — weren’t broken out. “The big tax on consumers that goes unnoticed is deregulation or regulation, and we are deregulating and bringing that down,” Bessent said. “So you know, from a household income point of view, we would expect real purchasing increases that we’ve seen over the first 100 days, and we would expect that to accelerate.
” A CNN poll released this week showed 59% of the public believe Trump’s policies have made the economy worse, with six in 10 believing his efforts have increased their cost of living. Nearly seven in 10 of survey respondents say they believe an economic recession is somewhat likely in the next year. Leavitt declined to answer when asked if the Punchbowl report had strained the relationship between the president and Bezos, who has sought to curry favor with Trump in recent months.
Bezos and Trump frequently clashed during the president’s first term over the billionaire’s ownership of the Washington Post. Later Tuesday, as he departed the White House, Trump expressed a favourable view of the Amazon founder. “He’s a good guy,” the president said.
“I’ve gotten to know him over the last couple of years, and he’s done a fantastic job.” Also Read: Donald Trump signs executive order to prevent his auto tariffs from stacking on top of each other.
