This morning, Punchbowl News reported that Amazon was considering listing the cost of tariffs as a separate line item on its site, citing "a person familiar with the plan." Amazon later acknowledged that there had been internal discussions to that effect but only for its import-focused Amazon Haul sub-store and that the company didn't plan to actually list tariff prices for any items.
"This was never approved and is not going to happen," reads Amazon's two-sentence statement.
Amazon issued such a specific and forceful on-the-record denial in part because it had drawn the ire of the Trump administration. In a press briefing early this morning, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked a question about the report, which the administration responded to as though Amazon had made a formal announcement about the policy.
"This is a hostile and political act by Amazon," Leavitt said, before blaming the Biden administration for high inflation and claiming that Amazon had "partnered with a Chinese propaganda arm."
The Washington Post also reported that Trump had called Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to complain about the report.
Amazon's internal discussions reflect the current confusion around the severe and rapidly changing import tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, particularly tariffs of 145 percent on goods imported from China. Other retailers, particularly sites like Temu, AliExpress, and Shein, have all taken their own steps, either adding labels to listings when import taxes have already been included in the price, or adding import taxes as a separate line item in users' carts at checkout as Amazon had discussed doing.
A Temu cart showing the price of an item's import tax as a separate line item. Amazon reportedly considered and discarded a similar idea for its Amazon Haul sub-site.
Small purchases are seeing big hits
Most of these items are currently excluded from tariffs because of something called the de minimis exemption, which applies to any shipment valued under $800. The administration currently plans to end the de minimis exemption for packages coming from China or Hong Kong beginning on May 2, though the administration's plans could change (as they frequently have before).
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