Smaller developers say they often have no choice but to work with the giant, Mr. Wakabayashi writes.

Some of the companies have a phrase for what Amazon is doing: strip-mining software. By lifting other people’s innovations, trying to poach their engineers and profiting from what they made, Amazon is choking off the growth of would-be competitors, the companies said.

“Silly and off-base” was Amazon’s response to the accusations. It said it had contributed significantly to the software industry and that it acted in the best interest of customers.

Gains from China trade deal may come at a cost

Trump administration officials took a victory lap yesterday, predicting big wins for the economy from a new trade deal with China. But the losses caused by a trade war that lasted 19 months might not be easy to win back, report the NYT’s Ana Swanson and Keith Bradsher.

The deal avoided another punishing round of tariffs on $160 billion in Chinese goods that was scheduled to take effect yesterday, easing tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

Chinese purchases of American products will rise by more than $100 billion a year under the deal, Robert Lighthizer, President Trump’s top trade negotiator, said in a televised interview.

But the economic benefits are minimized by Mr. Trump’s tariffs and his unpredictable approach to trade, which have added new costs for businesses.

• “It’s a pretty small deal, coming at a pretty high cost,” a trade policy expert said.

And the retreat from the tariff threat may be seen as a victory for China’s hard-liners, resulting in a longer trade war and stiff resistance from Beijing.