Amazon Says It Received $600 Million in Tariff Refunds, Plans to Pass Some Back to Customers
Amazon said on Thursday that after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled several tariff measures imposed by the Trump administration were unlawful, the company has received $600 million in tariff refunds and plans to return part of that money to consumers. “We are participating in the tariff refund process. As I mentioned before, the company received about $600 million in refunds in the second quarter,” Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said on the company’s earnings call. In February, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that tariffs imposed by Trump under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 were invalid, forcing the U.S. government to refund tariff payments to companies that imported affected goods and absorbed the tariff hit. Several large companies have said they will apply for refunds. In April, Trump was asked in an interview whether some companies, including Amazon, had chosen not to seek refunds out of concern about angering him. He said he would “remember” companies that did not apply. Apple said on Thursday that tariff refunds boosted its third-quarter earnings per share by 5%, or 11 cents. Amazon had previously not said whether it planned to seek the refunds. In May, multiple consumers filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court in Seattle, arguing that because product prices included tariff costs, they were entitled to refunds. They also accused Amazon of not seeking the refunds in an effort to curry favor with Trump. Olsavsky said on Thursday that Amazon received only limited tariff refunds because it had anticipated the tariff policy and arranged purchasing and inventory in advance. “Second, for the vast majority of goods sold on the platform, Amazon is not the importer of record,” he said. Many third-party sellers on Amazon that import goods from overseas were forced to raise prices because of the tariffs and have now applied for refunds. Third-party seller merchandise accounts for more than 60% of total sales on Amazon’s platform. Olsavsky said some of Amazon’s tariff refunds will be passed on to consumers. “We have identified a small number of cases where we can trace specific import charges that we passed through to customers. Once we receive the refunds, we will proactively contact affected customers and automatically issue them refunds. Otherwise, like other major retailers, we will continue to use refunds to help provide low prices for customers,” he said.