White House Blasts Amazon for Abandoning Tariff Plan
White House Pressures Amazon After Tariff Transparency Plan Draws Trump's Ire
The White House took direct aim at Amazon this week after reports surfaced that the e-commerce giant was considering showing U.S. tariff costs alongside product prices on its website. According to two senior White House officials, President Donald Trump personally called Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on Tuesday morning to express his concerns.
The president reportedly objected to Amazon’s potential plan to make tariff-related price increases more visible to shoppers. Following the call, Trump described the conversation as positive, telling reporters, “Jeff Bezos was very nice. He was terrific. He solved the problem very quickly. Good guy.”
The controversy was sparked by a report from Punchbowl News, which revealed that Amazon may soon begin displaying how much of an item’s price is due to tariffs—especially those imposed by Trump’s trade policies, including a 145% tariff on Chinese imports and a 10% minimum tax on imports from other countries. The move would have made the real-world impact of U.S. tariffs much more transparent to consumers.
Shortly before Trump’s call to Bezos, a senior official had briefed the president on the report. “Of course he was pissed,” the official told CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Why should a multibillion-dollar company pass off costs to consumers?”
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