Amazon Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy said President Donald Trump’s steep tariffs are starting to be reflected in the prices of some goods as sellers consider how to absorb the shock of additional costs.
Amazon and many of its third-party sellers pre-purchased inventory to get ahead of tariffs and keep prices low for customers, but most of that supply was gone by last fall, Jassy said in an interview Tuesday with CNBC’s Becky Quick at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“So some of the tariffs are starting to trickle down to some prices, some products, and some sellers are deciding to pass that higher cost on to consumers in the form of higher prices, some are deciding to absorb it to stimulate demand, and some are doing something in between,” Jassy said. “I think we’re starting to feel the impact more.”
The comments are a notable change from last year, when Jassy said Amazon had not seen “significant price increases” in the months after President Trump announced widespread tariffs.
Last April, Jassy also predicted that some sellers may be forced to pass on the additional costs of tariffs to consumers, as some companies “don’t have that extra 50% margin at their disposal.”
Amazon sellers previously told CNBC that they were considering or had already raised prices on some products because of higher import costs due to tariffs.
The company strives to “keep prices as low as possible” for consumers, but in some cases price increases may be unavoidable, Jassy said Tuesday.
“Retail, as you know, is a mid-single-digit operating margin business, so if your labor costs go up 10%, at some point there’s not a lot of room to absorb that,” Jassy said.
“You don’t have infinite options,” he added.
