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Amazon declared it never intended to display the exact cost of tariff-related price increases alongside all its products after the Trump administration described the move as a “hostile and political act,” although some believe they should have.
Amazon said the idea was only explored for its low-cost Amazon Haul unit that competes with Temu and SHEIN, not the whole platform. Both Chinese fast-fashion upstarts are facing tariff hikes after the Trump administration removed the “de minimis” exemption that allowed goods less than $800 to arrive duty-free.
Amazon said in a statement that even displaying prices on Amazon Haul was “never approved and [is] not going to happen,” although the statement came after President Donald Trump’s high-profile call to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Displaying the import fees would have made clear to American consumers that they were shouldering the costs of the tariff policies rather than China, as Trump’s team has often claimed.
“The public could have used Amazon’s price transparency,” wrote the Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board about Amazon’s speculated move. “Tariffs are taxes, and it’s helpful to know how policy choices affect final prices. Some shoppers might say the additional cost is worth it to support Mr. Trump’s policy. But there’s no denying that they’re paying, and everyone is better off knowing how much.”
Allison Schrager, a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering economics, wrote that taxes have long been listed separately in the U.S, as have add-on costs such as baggage fees, to better inform consumers of underlying costs. She wrote, “The problem is not the fees — it’s that, too often, they are a surprise.”
Describing the “conundrum” retailers face, a New York Times’ DealBook column pondered, “Do they eat tariff-related cost increases and hurt their bottom line, and investors? Do they pass the higher costs onto shoppers, potentially drawing their ire? Or do they level with consumers, and dare angering Trump?”
The debate comes as most of Amazon’s sales come from independent sellers on its site, with a large percentage of them selling items from China. The CEOs of Walmart, Target, and Home Depot recently warned Trump that his policies could hurt supply chains, empty shelves, and increase prices.
Reports arrived in early April that some retailers and food establishments were already adding surcharges at checkout to call out the tariff-related costs, although they seemed politically driven.
Jolie Skin, which makes filtered-water showerheads, added a "Trump Liberation Tariff" to its online checkout. Founder Ryan Babenzien said in a LinkedIn post about the move, “We think transparency is the way to go here and I am giving Trump full credit for his decision to add this Tariff to all U.S. consumers.”