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The White House has lashed out at what it called a “hostile and political act by Amazon” after a report alleged the tech giant was planning to display price increases caused by Donald Trump’s tariffs on its products.
The story originally reported by Punchbowl News on Tuesday said the ecommerce group would “soon” display the impact of the levies on “the price of each product” it sold.
Trump spoke with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to complain about the company’s plans, and the company swiftly walked back the proposal.
“Jeff Bezos was very nice,” Trump later said. “He was terrific. He solved the problem very quickly and he did the right thing. He’s a good guy.”
The Seattle-based group said such a move had only been considered for goods sold via its low-cost Haul platform.
“The team that runs our ultra low-cost Amazon Haul store has considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products,” Amazon said. “This was never a consideration for the main Amazon site and nothing has been implemented on any Amazon properties.”
“This was never approved and is not going to happen,” the company added.
Earlier in the day, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had sharply criticised the company saying it was “not a surprise” that Amazon would take such a step.
“Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years?” she added.
Bezos has repaired ties with Trump, whom he had once criticised as a “threat to democracy” but whose second inauguration as US president he attended this year.
During his first term, Trump frequently lashed out at Bezos, calling him “Jeff Bozo” and accusing the billionaire of buying The Washington Post to secure “political influence so that Amazon will benefit”.
But the relationship between the two men has since warmed, with Bezos meeting Trump multiple times in the past year.
Amazon donated $1mn to Trump’s inauguration fund and paid $40mn for a documentary on Melania Trump, the president’s wife. Roughly $28mn of that sum would go directly to the first lady, said multiple people familiar with the matter.
Leavitt’s denunciation of Amazon’s “hostile” act comes after Trump said of Bezos in an interview with The Atlantic published this week: “He’s 100 per cent. He’s been great.”
Amazon’s Haul platform sells cheap consumer goods directly shipped from Chinese warehouses to take advantage of duty exemptions known as de minimis rules, a loophole that the White House will close from May 2.
Trump this month announced steep “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of US trading partners, sending global markets plummeting. However, he has subsequently begun negotiations with many countries with a view to lowering their rates.
Additional reporting by Alex Rogers