Even the CEO of the world’s second-largest retailer doesn’t know precisely what’s in store in terms of the impact of President Donald Trump’s trade policy.
“You know, it’s hard to tell what’s going to happen with tariffs right now,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said on the company’s quarterly earnings call Thursday. “It’s hard to tell where they’re going to settle and when they’re going to settle.”
As Trump’s trade policy has ripped through the stock market, bringing economic uncertainty and concerns about higher prices for consumers, Jassy says Amazon is focussed on the short, medium, and long-term plans to keep prices down.
“How do we actually have the broadest possible selection for customers at the lowest possible prices?” Jassy said. “And there’s maybe never been a more important time in recent memory than trying to keep prices low, which we are heads down and pretty maniacally focused on.”
Jassy emphasized that Amazon is stocking up inventory and “encouraging” its third-party sellers to do the same to mitigate tariff cost increases. Additionally, he touted Amazon’s “broad selection” compared to other retailers to assist budget-conscious consumers find the lowest prices.
“It means that when you’ve got this continuity like we may potentially have, you’re better able to help customers find what they want, no matter what those trends are,” Jassy said.
“It could be as simple, by the way, as just favoring other brands that maybe people didn’t know about before, but where they have a more favorable price equation for customers,” he added.
Additionally, the president called Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Later in the day Trump said Bezos “solved the problem very quickly.”
Amazon’s first quarter earnings beat expectations, causing a pre-earning rally of more than 3%, its highest level since April 9. But, a soft Q2 guidance sparked an after-hours selloff as much as 4.84%.
Amazon’s AI focused AWS cloud sector saw annual sales growth increase to $29.3 billion, up 18%, on pace with internal forecasts of $29.4 billion in sales growth.
Issuing a less-than-expected guidance for Q2, Amazon expects sales between $159 billion to $164 billion and operating income between $13 billion and $17.5 billion in Q2. The company had estimated sales of $161.2 billion and $17.6 billion in operating profit.
“We’re closely monitoring the macroeconomic environment, including the impact of tariffs,” chief financial officer Brian Olsavsly said. “We’re planning for various outcomes, and we’ve taken a number of actions to protect the consumer experience.”
