President Trump said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos did the right thing after the e-commerce giant pushed back on reports that it was planning to display how much tariffs add to costs.
Trump and Bezos spoke on Tuesday morning about the reports of Amazon considering a tariff display, a source familiar told The Hill, and, later in the day, Trump said the Amazon CEO handled the situation.
“Great, Jeff Bezos was very nice, he was terrific. He solved the problem very quickly. And, he did the right thing and he’s a good guy,” Trump said.
The White House had bashed Amazon for the reported plans, calling it a “hostile and political act.”
“Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest levels in 40 years?” press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, “This is another reason why Americans should buy American. It’s another reason why we are onshoring critical supply chains here at home, to shore up our own critical supply chain and boost our own manufacturing.”
Amazon later said that the plans Punchbowl News reported about a display on its website with how much the price of an item increased as a result of the tariffs imposed by the White House would not be happening.
“The team that runs our ultra low cost Amazon Haul store considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products. This was never approved and is not going to happen,” Amazon spokesperson Tim Doyle said in a statement to The Hill.
Amazon Haul is a storefront offered by Amazon that offers lower-priced products across various categories. The company states the storefront “makes it easier than ever to discover sought-after products.
The president has imposed a 145 percent overall tariff on goods from China and has imposed 10 percent tariffs on all U.S. trading partners, pausing the additional hefty “reciprocal” tariffs for 90-days.
When asked earlier whether Bezos, who was at Trump’s inauguration in January, is still a Trump supporter, Leavitt said she wouldn’t comment on relationships.
“I will not speak to the president’s relationships with Jeff Bezos, but I will tell you that this is certainly a hostile and political act by Amazon,” Leavitt said.
