- Some Amazon third-party sellers could try to pass on tariff costs to shoppers, Amazon's CEO said.
- Many may not have the profit margins to absorb the tariff costs themselves, Andy Jassy said.
- Donald Trump plans to raise tariffs on goods from China to 125% while delaying duties on other nations.
Expect higher prices from some Amazon sellers thanks to tariffs.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said Thursday that sellers will likely attempt to pass along any new costs from tariffs to customers in an effort to protect their profit margins.
"Depending on which country you're in, you don't have 50% extra margin that you can play with," Jassy said in an interview with CNBC. "I think they'll try and pass the cost on."
While Amazon continues to grow its directly managed retail business, a majority of its retail sales come from third-party sellers, including many big-name brands and small businesses that source products from China and other countries.
"We're going to try to do everything we can to keep prices low as possible for customers," Jassy said.
President Donald Trump's tariffs — or the specter of them — have pushed some customers to make big purchases now or stock up on basics before the extra costs hit store shelves and websites.
On Wednesday, Trump delayed a series of reciprocal tariffs by 90-days. The duties, which Trump announced last week, would have hit imports originating in a wide range of countries and markets, from the European Union to Vietnam. Instead, tariffs on imports from those markets will stand at 10% for the next few months.
But Trump said Wednesday that he would increase tariffs on goods from China up to 125%, leaving cost increases on the table for a range of companies that manufacture and import consumer goods from the country.
Jassy said that Amazon has seen some of its shoppers stocking up as worries about tariffs and higher prices mounted, though he cautioned that it was still too early to call it a trend.
"We do see people buying ahead, but it's hard to know if it's just an anomaly in the data because it's just a few days or how long it's going to last," Jassy told CNBC.
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