Amazon reportedly scraps plans to display tariff costs
Amazon reportedly no longer intends to break out how much tariffs imposed by President Trump are affecting prices on its site.
According to CNBC (following up on original reporting from Punchbowl), an unidentified source said that Amazon intended to display any impact from tariffs on imports first imposed on April 2 has on the overall price of the goods it sells.
Trump has shifted tariff policy several times in the past few weeks, but currently there is a general tariff of 10% on most goods coming into the U.S., with levies on products and materials from China running as high as 145%.
However, CNBC now reports that Amazon will not follow through with the idea following a personal phone call between Trump and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
"The team that runs our ultra low cost Amazon Haul store considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products," an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC. "This was never approved and is not going to happen."
Amazon Haul is a dedicated section of its U.S. e-commerce site and shopping app that offers fashion, home, lifestyle, electronics, and other products with what Amazon describes as "ultra-low" prices of $20 and under, and with typical delivery times of one to two weeks.
Many Amazon Haul products come from Chinese suppliers, and its launch was widely viewed as an effort to compete directly with popular low-cost shopping apps that largely sell goods from China, such as Temu and Shein.
Temu is reportedly adding "import charges" of up to 150% on some items, while Shein has reportedly raised its U.S. prices as much as 377%. Earlier this month, both Temu and Shein warned shoppers via website notices that they would be raising their prices starting on April 25. In explaining the increases, they cited "recent changes in global trade rules and tariffs."
[READ MORE: Report: Temu adds ‘import charges,’ more than doubling price of some items]
In public comments before Amazon announced it would not display tariff prices, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt referred to the reported plan as a "hostile and political act" by the retailer.
"Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years?" Leavitt said. "This is another reason why Americans should buy American."
See more coverage from Punchbowl here.
Tariffs may cause pullback by Prime Day sellers
In other tariff-related news directly affecting Amazon, Reuters reports some third-party sellers on its site may either reduce the number of items they offer at discount at part of its upcoming Prime Day July sales extravaganza or not participate at all.
This curtailing of Prime Day activity would be in response to the impact tariffs could have on the profits of sellers of imported items on Amazon.
Reuters directly quoted two small U.S. businesses that sell imported items on Amazon planning to cut back or skip Prime Day discounts this year, although an Amazon spokesperson told Reuters the company is having a "strong response" to Prime Day from third-party sellers.
