Amazon, Reviewed tariff price display and withdrew…Trump directly protested

On 29th (local time) White House spokesperson Caroline Levitt criticizing Amazon's tariff increase pricing policy (Source: AP)

Amazon considered a plan to display the price increase due to tariffs on some ultra-low-priced products, but immediately withdrew when faced with strong opposition from the White House. As it was reported that President Trump personally called founder Jeff Bezos to strongly protest, this controversy is expanding into a conflict between the White House and Amazon.

Amazon stated on the 29th (local time) through a statement that “while it is true that the ‘Amazon Hall’ team, which deals with ultra-low-priced products, considered the idea of ​​displaying import costs on some products, this was not intended for application to the main site and was not actually reflected on any platform.” Amazon emphasized that there were internal discussions related to this, but it was never officially approved and will not be realized in the future.

When US media outlet Punchbowl News reported in the morning that Amazon planned to display the amount generated by tariffs next to product prices, the White House immediately responded. White House spokesperson Caroline Levitt criticized, “Such a measure is evident political action, and why didn't Amazon consider this method when there was the highest level of inflation in 40 years during the Biden administration?”

The background to why this issue has escalated into a political clash beyond just a corporate policy controversy lies in the high-rate tariff policy of the Trump administration. In particular, since high-rate tariffs are scheduled to be imposed on small shipments from China starting May 2, Amazon seemed to have considered the price display method as a way to show that price increases are not its responsibility.

However, the way of revealing the impact of tariffs on consumer prices essentially contradicts Trump's claim of price stability, leading the White House to take a hardline response. Levitt spokesperson also mentioned during the briefing that the decision was not surprising given Amazon's past cooperation with the Chinese government.

Meanwhile, Amazon has been targeting Chinese-based platforms such as Temu and Shein since last November through an ultra-low-price specialty shopping mall called ‘Amazon Hall’. This shopping mall mainly sells products under $20 and targets price-sensitive consumers.

Recently, as competitor Temu began incorporating about 145% import fee into prices, Amazon, which had been considering a similar strategy, backed off in consideration of the political fallout.

Regarding this issue, some view it as a sign of the relationship cooling again between President Trump and Bezos. Although Bezos has contributed to President Trump's inauguration and cooperated on the documentary production for first lady Melania, the current incident is analyzed to possibly hinder that flow.