Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said consumers are starting to see higher prices as sellers appear to absorb additional costs from President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Jassy told CNBC that Amazon and many third-party sellers provide inventory before rates to keep prices low, but most of these supplies run out late.
“So you start to see some rates creeping into some prices, some goods, and you see some sellers decide that they will pass on higher costs to consumers at higher prices, some decide to absorb it to push demand and some do it in between,” said Jassy. “I think you’re starting to see more of that impact.”
Amazon’s comments mark a change from last year, when Jassy said that the price has not increased after Trump announced the tariffs.
Jassy said Tuesday that while Amazon is trying to keep prices low, price increases may be inevitable in some cases.
“At a certain point, because retail, as you know, is a mid-single-digit operating margin business, if people’s costs go up 10%, there’s not a lot of room to absorb it,” Jassy said. “You don’t have infinite options.”
Despite the tariffs, consumers are “quite resilient,” Jassy said, noting that some shoppers are moving to lower-priced items and hunting for bargains, while others are resisting premium discretionary purchases.
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