Amazon disclosed Thursday that it received $600 million in tariff refunds after the Supreme Court struck down many of President Donald Trump's import levies, and said it will return some of that money to customers.
The announcement came during the company's earnings call. According to CNBC, the Supreme Court invalidated tariffs that Trump had imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, forcing the government to repay duties to companies that had imported goods into the United States.
"We are participating in the tariff refund process and, as I mentioned earlier, we received approximately $600 million in Q2," said Brian Olsavsky, Amazon's finance chief, on the call.
Amazon had not previously said whether it planned to apply for refunds. In May, a group of consumers filed a class action lawsuit in federal court in Seattle arguing they were owed refunds for paying tariff-inflated prices and alleging that Amazon was not seeking refunds to curry favor with Trump. In April, Trump told CNBC he would "remember" companies that chose not to apply.
Amazon's refund total was smaller than it might have been for other large importers, Olsavsky explained, because the company had worked to stockpile and reposition inventory ahead of the tariffs taking effect. He also noted that Amazon is not the importer of record for most items sold on its platform. Outside sellers account for more than 60% of goods sold in the marketplace, and many of those third-party sellers were hit directly by the tariffs.
Apple also disclosed tariff-related news Thursday. The company said its earnings per share were lifted 5%, or 11 cents, by tariff refunds in its most recent quarter. Walmart, Costco, Home Depot and General Motors were among the other major companies that said they would apply for refunds.
Olsavsky said the company has identified a narrow group of cases where it can directly trace that import charges were passed on to customers.
"We've identified a limited set of circumstances where we can trace that we've passed specific import charges onto customers, and when we receive those refunds, we will proactively contact affected customers and automatically issue refunds to them," Olsavsky said. "Otherwise, like other large retailers, we'll utilize refunds to continue to invest in low prices for customers."
Amazon had drawn White House attention on the tariff issue before the refund process began. Last April, the company was reported to have considered displaying the cost of Trump's tariffs next to some products on its website. Trump personally called Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos to complain, according to NBC News. The plan was not carried out.
The class action lawsuit filed in Seattle in May remains a separate legal matter from the refund process Amazon is now participating in. The plaintiffs argued the company had been deliberately avoiding refunds to protect its relationship with the administration.
