(Credit: Bilanol/Shutterstock)
Amazon today pushed back on reports that it will update listings to outline when US tariffs have caused price increases.
According to Punchbowl News, the retailer planned to update listings "soon" to show users in the US how much tariffs were increasing the price of a product. That prompted White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt to slam the move as "a hostile and political act by Amazon."
However, Amazon denies the report and says it only "considered" doing it on its Temu clone, Amazon Haul. "The team that runs our ultra-low-cost Amazon Haul store considered listing import charges on certain products. This was never approved and is not going to happen," it tweeted.
Amazon Haul is the company's answer to Temu and Shein. When it debuted in November, Haul promised "crazy low prices," with everything priced at $20 or less. You can save even more on larger hauls, with 5% off orders over $50 and 10% off orders over $75. The trade-off is slower delivery; no two-day Prime shipping here since the products are coming in from overseas.
Trump's tariffs are a big problem for many businesses, particularly those that import goods from China. Compounding the issue is the end of the "de minimis tax exemption," which has long shielded packages worth less than $800 from import duties. Effective May 2, however, that goes away, meaning a $20 purchase could balloon to $50.
Temu and Shein raised their prices on April 25 to deal with the tariffs. On Temu, you can avoid import charges (for now) by looking for a "local" label, meaning the goods are already in a US warehouse and won't incur additional charges.
Depending on what you buy, Amazon could get expensive in the coming months. According to research from UBS, 71% of the PCs and electronics sold on Amazon contain imported content. The same goes for 66% of consumer electronics overall.
(Credit: UBS)Reuters reported yesterday that some Amazon suppliers are pulling out of Prime Day sales because of the tariffs. The report didn't specify how many retailers are reconsidering, but it said some plan to scale down efforts while others are considering leaving the big sales event altogether. Prime Day is currently scheduled for July.