An Amazon Prime truck in Los Angeles in 2023. Photo: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Imposing transaction fees to account for President Trump's tariffs might sound enticing to businesses, but it's a political risky endeavor that threatens to backfire quickly.
Zoom in: A report today that Amazon was poised to add a tariff surcharge to purchases in the U.S. triggered outrage in the White House, which condemned it as a "hostile and political act."
Soon thereafter, an Amazon spokesperson said it was briefly under consideration only for budget shopping site Amazon Haul. "This was never approved and is not going to happen," the spokesperson said.
We reached out to Walmart, the world's largest retailer, where a spokesperson told Axios' Kelly Tyko that the company does "not itemize what goes into the cost of goods on our website."
💠Nathan's thought bubble: I guess they'll have to do price increases the old-fashioned way: by not telling people why.
