WASHINGTON, April 12 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump late on Thursday ordered creation of a task force to study the U.S. Postal Service and its business model.
The task force will look into the post office's financial difficulties, the White House said in a statement.
"The USPS is on an unsustainable financial path and must be restructured to prevent a taxpayer-funded bailout," said the order, signed by Trump. It said Postal Service had lost $65 billion since the 2007-2009 recession.
The Postal Service is supposed to be self-sustaining, but it must ask Congress for permission to raise rates and, because of a 2006 law, it must pre-fund decades worth of retiree health benefits.
Trump said earlier this month that the United States was subsidizing Amazon.com Inc and that the online retailer must pay more to ship its products through the postal service.
Citing an unnamed report, Trump said the U.S. Postal Service “delivers packages for Amazon at a very low rate,” adding, “If you look at the cost that we’re subsidizing, we’re giving a subsidy to Amazon.” (Reporting by Diane Bartz Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh)