President Donald J. Trump's recently effected tariffs are already changing the world, especially China after it was given the largest reciprocal tariff by the administration. While tech companies with products relying on China for parts, manufacturing, and assembly are affected, e-commerce platforms are also set to suffer from it.
Amazon Chinese Sellers Raise Their Prices Amidst Tariffs
A Chinese trade association, which represents over 3,000 merchants selling on Amazon, previously released a statement amidst the Trump tariffs taking effect in the United States which claimed that it is now hard to sell their products to the US market.
The Shenzhen Cross-Border E-Commerce Association led by Wang Xin claimed that there are only two options for Chinese sellers on Amazon to survive their business, and it is either to get out of the US market or raise their prices.
Some sellers are already opting to leave, while there are several merchants who chose to stay but at the cost of increasing their selling prices significantly.
According to Xin, because of the imposed tariffs that are now at a whopping 145%, "It'll be very hard for anyone to survive in the US market," with the cost structure of Chinese goods facing the overwhelming decisions of the Trump administration.
It was not revealed by Xin or the report how much the Chinese sellers on Amazon are raising their prices, but since the tariffs are at a significant rate, it is expected to double or mark up more than this figure. And since this targeting of China is a specific move by the Trump administration, no merchant or product is safe from the tariffs as long as they hail from the Mainland.
Is It Still Worth It to Buy Chinese Products From Amazon?
According to ArsTechnica, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said that the Chinese sellers on their platform would face the grave effects of the tariffs, but that would not be the case moving forward. Jassy claimed that he expects that the tariffs' effects would later on be passed to US buyers as the consumers would have to buy the product for their needs or wants.
With this, the biggest loser among all are not the Chinese merchants, suppliers, and workforce, but the United States public who would be forced to buy imported goods, particularly those from China, at a premium.
That being said, this does not cancel out the fact that Chinese businesses will suffer from the tariffs, especially as the e-commerce platform had already effected several changes to curb its effects. Recently, Amazon Haul has changed its focus to selling items that ship from their US warehouses instead of sourcing the products from China directly despite this being the main point of this feature.
Originally published on Tech Times
