White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt accused Jeff Bezos’s company of partnering with a ‘Chinese propaganda arm’ - Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Donald Trump raged against Jeff Bezos in a phone call after it emerged Amazon was considering displaying the cost of the US president’s tariffs within order receipts.
The White House accused Amazon of a “hostile and political act” after a report suggested Amazon would highlight the cost of tariffs, allowing customers to see exactly how much the levies were adding to the price of goods.
Mr Trump personally called Mr Bezos in a rage to complain, The Telegraph understands.
“Trump essentially told Bezos to go f*** himself,” a source close to the administration said.
The clash threatened to derail a friendship between Mr Trump and Mr Bezos that has developed over recent months and has reportedly seen the Amazon billionaire make numerous visits to the White House. The president later said he had a good call with Mr Bezos.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said of Amazon’s tariff plan: “This is a hostile and political act by Amazon. Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years?
“This is another reason why Americans should buy American. It is another reason why we are on-shoring critical supply chains here at home to shore up our own political supply chain and boost our own manufacturing here.”
Credit: Reuters
Ms Leavitt said she had just spoken to Mr Trump about Amazon’s move. She added that the company’s actions suggested Amazon had partnered “with a Chinese propaganda arm”.
During the press conference, Ms Leavitt held up a printed out copy of a 2021 Reuters article which reported that Amazon had banned reviews of a collection of Xi Jinping’s writings and worked with the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda arm to create a selling portal of Chinese books, in a bid to curry favour with Beijing.
Her comments prompted a swift response from Amazon which claimed that it only ever intended to apply the cost breakdown on its discount outlet, Haul, which is available to US shoppers.
A spokesman for Amazon said: “The team that runs our ultra low cost Amazon Haul store has considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products. Teams discuss ideas all the time.
“This was never a consideration for the main Amazon site and nothing has been implemented on any Amazon properties.”
The spokesman added: “This was never approved and is not going to happen.”
Speaking to reporters after Amazon issued its statement, Mr Trump said: “Jeff Bezos is very nice. Terrific. He solved the problem very quickly. He did the right thing. Good guy.”
The row threatened to cause a rift between Mr Trump and Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s billionaire owner and founder.
Mr Bezos has previously courted the president, appearing at Mr Trump’s inauguration in January alongside fellow tech billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
The Amazon founder’s move to block The Washington Post, the newspaper he has owned since 2013, from endorsing a candidate in November’s election was also seen as favouring Mr Trump. The paper had previously endorsed Hilary Clinton and Joe Biden.
More recently Mr Bezos has ordered The Washington Post to support “personal liberties and free markets” in a big shake-up of the Left-leaning newspaper. The move fuelled fears at the paper that the entrepreneur was seeking to interfere with the paper’s agenda in the wake of Mr Trump’s re-election as US president.
Jeff Bezos joined his rival tech moguls at Donald Trump’s inauguration in January - Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
Spelling out the impact of Mr Trump’s tariffs on the cost of goods would be seen as an attempt by Amazon to shift the blame for rising prices away from the company and on to the US administration.
The price of nearly 1,000 products sold by Amazon in the US have risen since the second week of this month, according to data from SmartScout, with the average price rise coming in at about 30pc. Products affected included tech accessories, phone chargers and women’s clothing.
Andy Jassy, Amazon’s chief executive, told CNBC earlier this month he expected manufacturers would raise prices in the wake of the tariffs. He said: “I understand why, I mean, depending on which country you’re in, you don’t have 50pc extra margin that you can play with. I think they’ll try and pass the cost on.”
Last week the bosses of Walmart, Target and Home Depot – three of the biggest retailers in the US – warned the Trump administration that continuing with tariffs on Chinese goods could cause empty shelves in American shops.
Many shipments of Chinese goods bound for the US have been cancelled or redirected in the wake of Mr Trump’s tariffs. Freight arrivals at the port of Los Angeles are expected to decline by 33pc for the week ending May 10, according to shipping data.
Walmart sources about 60pc of its imports from China, including clothing, electronics and toys, while about 50pc of Target’s suppliers are based there.
A majority of US citizens polled by Gallup said they now expected the price of their shopping to rise because of the trade war.
