Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said that less than a year after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed widespread tariffs on a range of imported goods, the impact of the tariffs has begun to be felt on the consumer side. In an interview with CNBC, Jassy pointed out that the inventory that Amazon and third-party sellers on the platform had accumulated in early 2025 to lower prices has now been "used up", which means "you will start to see that some tariffs are seeping into the price of goods little by little."
The statement comes after the release of a new study. Analysis by Germany's Kiel Institute for World Economics shows that foreign exporters only absorbed about 4% of the tariff costs, and the remaining 96% was paid by American consumers, essentially bearing most of the burden at higher prices. When talking about sellers’ coping strategies, Jassy said, “Some sellers decided to pass these higher costs on to consumers in the form of higher prices, while others chose to absorb them themselves to maintain demand.”
In addition to tariffs themselves, policy tightening is also further squeezing the space for cross-border e-commerce. Trump previously signed an executive order to close the "de minimis" loophole that originally allowed low-priced goods to enter the United States duty-free. This blocking measure officially took effect in August last year. In Jassy's view, after the "micro-exemption" of tariff superposition is closed, the means that Amazon and third-party sellers can use to hedge against rising costs and avoid further price increases are already very limited.
"If people's costs increase by 10%, there won't be much room to absorb it," Jassy said frankly. He emphasized that Amazon will "make every effort to work with sales partners to keep prices as low as possible for consumers," but as costs continue to rise, "you can't have endless options."