The 100th day in the position of President Trump began with what seemed to be a fresh dispute and accelerates between the White House and Amazon.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House Press Secretary, left at her press conference on Tuesday morning, accusing Amazon of being “hostile and political” after a report, played by the company, of PunchBowl News that says that the online retail giant would begin to show the exact cost of price increases related to the tariff together with all its products.
Showing import rates would have made clear US consumers who were assuming the costs of Mr. Trump’s tariff policies instead of China, since he and his senior officials have often claimed that it would be the case.
After the report was published, Trump talked about it by phone with Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, according to three people familiar with the exchange. Amazon spokesmen hurriedly issued the denials that policy entered into force, and by Tuesday afternoon, Trump praised Mr. Bezos again.
“Jeff Bezos is very pleasant,” Trump told journalists while embarked on a trip to Michigan for a concentrator that commemorates the first 100 days of his second term. “He solved the problem very quickly. He did the right thing. Good guy.”
This arch between Mr. Trump and Mr. Bezos who developed in just a few hours seemed revealing. The Amazon Mogul is among the billionaires who have reached a long period to reach the good with this White House. Mr. Trump, in turn, has managed to cut such billionaires promising that it would be better for business. And yet, in the first sign that Bezos could be prioritizing the interests of his businesses in a way that damaged Mr. Trump’s political fortune, the White House did not hesitate to attack publicly.
And it seemed to have had the desired effect.
Mrs. Leavitt had started Amazon on Tuesday morning while standing at the Treasury Secretary, Scott Besent. She said she had just spoken by phone with the president about the PunchBowl report, and also asked aloud in her informative session why Amazon had not done such a thing when prices increased during the Biden administration due to inflation.
Mrs. Leavitt said that “it was not a surprise” from Amazon, since she held a copy of a 2021 reuters article with the headline “Amazon associated with China’s propaganda arm.”
Subsequently, a Amazon spokesman said the company had considered an idea similar to that of the PunchBowl report, but only in a new experimental part of its site, Amazon Haul, who competes with Temu, a Chinese retailer. Temu is mainly sent directly to consumers and has begun to show “import charges” to reflect the end of a customs escape that had exempted low -price articles of tariffs.
“The teams discuss ideas all the time,” said spokesman Ty Rogers, in a statement. He said the concept was never considered the main site of Amazon, adding: “This was never approved and will not happen.”
The Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, wrote on social networks that this was “good news.”
Trump’s aggressive tariffs about Chinese products have initiated a growing commercial war, even when their administration has withdrawn its broader global taxes in the midst of what they said were negotiations with dozens of nations in new commercial agreements.
Mrs. Leavitt’s attack against Amazon was more notable because Mr. Bezos has done everything possible for Curry with this White House. Amazon donated $ 1 million to Mr. Trump inaugural, ensuring seats for Bezos and his future girlfriend in the Capitol Rotunda for the inauguration.
Shortly before the elections, Mr. Bezos annulled an editorial that supported Kamala Harris by president in the newspaper he owns, The Washington Post. More recently, Amazon Prime added multiple seasons of “The Apprentice” to his transmission inventory. The company also reached an agreement with the Trump family to make a documentary about Melania Trump.
In December, Mr. Bezos explained his turn from Trump-Ward as he spoke at the New York Times Dealbook summit. “What I have seen so far is that it is calmer than the first time,” said Bezos about Trump, “safer, more established.”
He added: “I have high hopes. It seems to have a lot of energy around the reduction of regulation.”
Mr. Trump was asked about his relationship with Bezos in a cover story in Atlantic magazine published Monday. “It’s 100 percent,” Trump said. “It has been great.”
But when he asked Mrs. Leavitt on Tuesday morning if the Amazon tycoon could still be considered a Trump defender, given the last report, she completed.
“Look, I will not talk to the president’s relations with Jeff Bezos,” Leavitt said, “but I will tell you that this is a hostile and political action of Amazon.”
