Amazon CEO Andy Jussy has warned Americans protecting their wallets after President Trump's tariff agenda.
Jassy has issued a vague warning to Amazon customers that the world's most popular online retailer faces challenges from the Trump administration's tariff push. Interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin of CNBC on “Squawk Box” On Thursday, he said that taxation could create a “macro issue” that would collide with the average Joe Square in the budget.
“We're surmising that the seller will pass that cost,” Jassy said of the tariff costs. “And I understand why. I mean, depending on which country you are in, you don't have an extra 50% margin that you can play with.”
“It's so early now, but consumer behavior changes are not yet seen in any meaningful way,” Jassy says.
The CEO said there could be a “discontinuity” issue with the site as it faces an increase in demand for certain types of inexpensive products made overseas, but he carefully avoided mentioning China, even when prompted by the interviewer.
“Obviously, some of that China is still in the majority of sellers and other manufacturers selling through Amazon Manufacture in China,” Sorkin offered as a key question.
“Well, it's really hard to know what's going to happen. You know, there's a lot of fluids right now. And we'll spend all the cycles going to go and try to figure out where we have the right customer experience,” Jassy said in response.
Sorkin lasted and referenced reports that Amazon “reduces” its “reduces” from purchasing certain products from communist countries.
“Well, what I say to you is, whenever you have any kind of discontinuity threat, as a team, you have to think about what you can do to help our customers. So we're doing everything we can to maintain prices for our customers as low as possible.”
The Amazon CEO says it will try to prevent price increases through “strategic forward inventory purchases” through renegotiation of deals with popular items and suppliers.
Jussy also commented on the actions of other companies facing tariffs, including Warner Bros., Delta and Walmart, stressing that “it's hard to know what's actually going to happen.”
“I fully understand why companies are nervous right now. It's very early. You don't know, but of course, when there's something like tariffs, it's causing macro issues that push down demand or promote inflation, but I haven't seen it yet.”
Jassy said Amazon has “always” in communication with the Trump administration on a variety of issues, including tariffs.
“We also have different things that we think are important to consumers, and we think are important to businesses. We have a conversation about tariffs as well. And we share what some of our concerns are and they know them,” he told Sorkin.
Jassy also declined to comment on reports that the company has bid on the Chinese-owned social media app Tiktok.
“If this doesn't work, I might be a politician,” joked Sorkin that the CEO didn't want to give a straight answer.
Amazon's stock just surpassed 6% on Thursday, but slightly surpassed 8% of the week, reaching a record valuation of $242.06 per share on February 4th this year.
