The White House has denounced Amazon as it reportedly plans to display the costs of President Donald Trump’s tariffs next to the site’s total price. “This is an adversarial and political act by Amazon,” White House spokesman Caroline Leavitt said at a press conference with Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent. The stock of the retail giant, founded by Jeff Bezos, fell into pre-market trading following his remarks. Approximately 70% of the products the company sells are made in China. Trump slapped tariffs as high as 145% of imports from the country.
The White House posted the costs of President Donald Trump’s tariffs reportedly reportedly denounced Amazon on Tuesday next to the site’s total price.
“This is an adversarial and political act by Amazon,” White House spokesman Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
“Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to its highest level in 40 years?” asked Leavitt.
She added, “This is another reason why Americans should buy Americans.”
The stock of the online retail giant, founded by Jeff Bezos, fell more than 2% in pre-market trading following the remarks.
Amazon did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
The Trump administration’s offensive swipe responds to a Punch Bowl News report early Tuesday morning, and Amazon will soon show how much consumers will cost from tariffs.
The amounts added as a result of the tariffs will appear right next to the listed prices for each product, a person familiar with the plans told the news outlet.
A reporter at a press conference on Tuesday asked Leavitt and Treasury Secretary Scott Becent if the move “consented to clearly demonstrate that it is not China, but the US consumers, not the US consumers that have to pay for these policies.
Levitt chose to answer as he said, “I just hung up the phone with the president about the Amazon announcement.”
Amazon is not the first retailer to highlight how new tariffs are changing prices.
China-based first-fashion giants Shane and Tem have even added a massive extra fee recently. Temu includes rows in the checkout aggregation that indicates “import charge” which adds about 145% to each item.
Leavitt’s response could mark a new rift between Trump and Bezos, who have joined other billionaires and technical leaders in conjunction with the Republican president since winning the 2024 election.
After frequently catching Trump’s rage over the past few years, Bezos expressed optimism about the second Republican term, saying he believes Trump is more calm and more confident.
In the same month, Amazon gave $1 million to Trump’s first fund. Bezos later attended Trump’s inauguration.
When he forced the Washington Post, Bezos further accused him of trying to bring Trump to justice, limiting his views to publishing only works that defend “personal freedom and the free market.”
However, according to Wedbush Securities, Amazon’s business is nervous in the face of Trump’s sweeping tariff plans, particularly in the face of a 145% obligation in China, where up to 70% of Amazon products are sourced.
As Amazon merchants began hiking prices for a wide range of products in response to tariffs, the company began emailing sellers to assess the impact of Trump’s agenda.
Leavitt was asked if Bezos was “still a Trump supporter” after issuing a statement on Amazon.
“Look, I won’t talk about the president’s relationship with Jeff Bezos, but I will tell you that this is certainly a hostile and political action by Amazon,” she said.
This is fast news. Please update for updates.
– CNBC’s Annie Palmer contributed to this report.
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