Amazon is dispatching lobbyists to statehouses around the country in a fight against legislation that could see states ordering fewer goods from China, raising vague but strong objections to the bills, flooding legislators with dubious amendments to bog down the process, and straining their relationships with lawmakers.
“I’ve gone to Amazon and their lobbyists and said, ‘Look, you’re gonna have to bring me something, you’re gonna have to tell me, you know, why you’re uncomfortable,’” Republican state Rep. Mark Cochran told the Washington Examiner. “Because just saying ‘we don’t like it’ is really not sufficient.”
Cochran is one of the primary lawmakers pushing for a piece of Tennessee legislation that would ban state and municipal government agencies from purchasing goods manufactured by Chinese corporations, citing national security concerns. Amazon has launched an all-out campaign against the bill and, according to Cochran, has not provided a reason for its opposition. One lobbyist familiar with the proceedings corroborated Cochran’s account, telling the Washington Examiner that Amazon “approached a number of lawmakers and just basically blanket said they had a problem with the bill,” while “not giving any specifics or any fixes for the bill.”
Texas is mulling similar legislation, and, according to lobbyists with knowledge of the proceedings, Amazon is attempting to derail the bill with a similar lack of explanation. The tech giant even engaged in what one lobbyist called “bad faith” tactics, such as submitting many spurious amendments to slow the legislative process.
Cochran told the Washington Examiner that Amazon started its push to stop his bill by going through the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce. Amazon was unable to convince the Chamber of its position, and the Chamber ultimately decided to stay neutral on the legislation.
As pressure built on Cochran’s bill, the Senate version faced similar opposition from Amazon. The tech corporation’s representatives aggressively lobbied the Tennessee State Senate and the Local Government Committee. Cochran said he was unclear on what was said to the committee, but that a vote on the bill was canceled after the meetings.
Amazon has invested over $25 billion in Tennessee since 2010 and employed roughly 28,000 of the state’s citizens as of January 2024, according to the company’s website. Economic influence of that magnitude often translates into considerable political influence.
“Ultimately, we will push this forward next year,” Cochran told the Washington Examiner, undeterred by Amazon’s opposition. “It’s on Amazon to come up with some answer between now and then; otherwise, we will have that discussion publicly in committee. The people of Tennessee do not want electronic products that are produced in China to be in their state offices. So if Amazon is ultimately opposed to that, they’re going to have to tell the people of Tennessee why that is.”
The Washington Examiner contacted every registered Amazon lobbyist in Tennessee, requesting information on the corporation’s position on the bill. However, no responses were received.
Amazon’s approach to opposing the Texas bill was slightly different. The tech company attempted to bargain with legislators, according to lobbyists familiar with the proceedings.
“They sent an amendment that just said American publicly traded corporations are exempt from all of this legislation,” one lobbyist told the Washington Examiner. “Why are we going to block the sale of Chinese products to the state of Texas, but then say, ‘if you’re an American publicly traded corporation, you could sell Chinese products.’ I mean it’s pointless, right?”
Amazon is still pushing for the amendment, according to the lobbyist.
The proposed amendment may be important to Amazon as it sells items manufactured by Pentagon-designated “Chinese military companies” through its online marketplace, a Washington Examiner investigation recently found. Federal law defines Chinese military companies as entities that the Department of Defense determined are “directly or indirectly owned” or otherwise controlled by the Chinese military. “Military-civil fusion contributors to the Chinese defense industrial base,” corporations that knowingly collaborate with the CCP to develop military technology or serve as defense contractors, are also included under the designation.
Among the Chinese military-linked goods Amazon sells is video equipment manufactured by Hikvision, DJI, and Dahua. All three companies have been linked to the Chinese Communist Party’s repression of Uyghurs, which some, including the U.S. government, have said is tantamount to genocide.
Many of the big players in the tech sector, including Microsoft and Nvidia, maintain ties with Chinese government-linked entities — a dynamic that has left some observers concerned as the companies jockey for influence within the Trump administration.
AMAZON ALLOWS CHINESE MILITARY COMPANIES TO PROFIT OFF ITS ONLINE MARKETPLACE
“American companies need to make a choice: Do they want to put America first or the Chinese Communist Party first?” Hudson Institute senior fellow Michael Sobolik previously told the Washington Examiner. “If they can’t muster the requisite patriotism to do the right thing, Congress and the Trump administration should step in and establish penalties for doing business with companies affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army.”
Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.