Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos could be one of the victims of Trump’s new trade war after new figures showed that the retail giant is hugely reliant on imports from China
Donald Trump’s new wave of tariffs are expected to put the global economy on the brink of a recession – and could also hit the pockets of one of his closest allies back home. Jeff Bezos, who has met privately with the US president multiple times and appeared at his inauguration ceremony in January, could see his Amazon retail empire lose millions due to Trump’s new taxes on cross-border trade.
US investment giant Morgan Stanley estimated that about 25% of all products Amazon sells directly on its platform come from China, making the firm especially vulnerable to the new tariffs. This is significantly higher percentage than some of its rivals, including Etsy, which is thought to source less than 3% of its products from China.
Mr Bezos is already thought to have lost £22 billion since the inauguration, after Trump’s aggressive trade policies triggered a huge sell-off in the stock market, while fellow tech moguls including Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla billionaire Elon Musk have also seen their fortunes fall.
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It comes after it emerged that Amazon has put in an eleventh-hour bid to buy TikTok. An official, who spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity, said that the Amazon bid was made in an offer letter addressed to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
The app was temporarily blocked in the US in January over potential concerns about national security, before Trump signed an executive order delaying its sale or ban by 75 days.
Trump’s new tariffs, set to be introduced at 9pm tonight (BST) on what the president has dubbed “Liberation Day,” have been championed by the White House as a bid to boost U.S. manufacturing and punish other countries for decades of unfair trade practices.
On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday, said the new tariffs would take effect immediately, adding: “April 2, 2025, will go down as one of the most important days in modern American history.”
But economists have said the move threatens to plunge the economy into a downturn and hit consumers with steep price rises.
The tariffs follow similar recent announcements of 25% taxes on auto imports, as well as levies against China, Canada and Mexico and trade penalties on steel and aluminium.
Trump has also imposed tariffs on countries that import oil from Venezuela, and has announced import taxes on pharmaceutical drugs, lumber, copper and computer chips.
Amid the signs of a new trade war, Goldman Sachs recently estimated the US had 35% chance of a recession in the next 12 months, up from 20% previously.
The investment giant said the White House had showed “greater willingness to tolerate near-term economic weakness in pursuit of their policies”.
S&P Global meanwhile said the downgrades in 2025 economic growth forecasts for multiples major economies were largely due to “U.S. tariff effects” and recent indicators of potential weakness in the American economy.