Customs duties: After considering displaying the increase on its products, Amazon backs down

A quick about-face in the face of pressure from Trump. This Tuesday, April 29, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt appeared angry in front of reporters. The reason was an article on the Punchbowl News website. which explained that Amazon would consider indicating, alongside the sale price of its items, the share linked to customs duties imposed by Donald Trump on the United States' major trading partners.

Karoline Leavitt called this measure nothing more or less than a "hostile and political act." "This is not a surprise," continued Trump's spokeswoman, "because Amazon has signed a partnership with a Chinese propaganda entity."

The spokesperson held up a copy of a Reuters article from December 2021, which reported that Amazon had partnered with Chinese authorities, leading to the creation of a web portal specifically dedicated to books by members of the Chinese government, primarily President Xi Jinping. She then indicated that she had just spoken to the US president on the phone about Amazon.

Following its press conference, Amazon released a statement explaining that it will not be displaying tariffs on its e-commerce platform after all. The company said that its low-cost product team, Amazon Haul, had "considered publishing import costs for certain products," but that the proposal was "never approved" and would "not be implemented."

However, according to several American media outlets, many third-party companies that list their products on Amazon have raised their prices to cushion the expected impact of the tariffs. Businesses and economists expect a particularly significant impact on imports of finished products or components from China, on the majority of which Donald Trump has imposed 145% tariffs.