A report that Amazon is planning to disclose tariff costs for some items on its website sparked a furious response from the White House Tuesday, including a phone call from President Donald Trump to Jeff Bezos, the founder of the e-commerce giant.
Trump called Bezos to complain about the plan, which according to Punchbowl News would include import costs as a line item in the total cost of some products. Doing so would make it clear that U.S. consumers pay some portion of tariff fees imposed by the federal government – something most economists say is true but has been repeatedly denied by Trump administration officials, who, along with the president, insist that import taxes imposed by the U.S. are paid by exporting nations.
Following the release of the news report, Amazon denied that it was accurate and said that a plan to list import costs was considered at one of its subsidiary sites but never put into place. “The team that runs our ultra-low-cost Amazon Haul store considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products," an Amazon spokesperson told Engadget. "This was never approved and is not going to happen.”
Asked about the report Tuesday morning, before Amazon issued its statement, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt came out swinging. “This is a hostile and political act by Amazon,” she said.
Leavitt then asked rhetorically why Amazon did not include some reference to inflationary price hikes during the Biden administration and claimed that Amazon is working with “a Chinese propaganda arm,” raising doubts about the motivations of the country’s largest e-tailer.
Later in the day, Trump said the potential conflict had been settled. “Jeff Bezos was very nice. He was terrific,” Trump told reporters. “He solved the problem very quickly. Good guy.”
Still, it seems likely that Trump was initially angry about the reported plan, which threatened to lay bare the complicated pricing dynamics associated with tariffs and higher import costs. “Of course he was pissed,” an administration official told CNN. “Why should a multibillion-dollar company pass off costs to consumers?”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick jumped into the fray, questioning the idea that a company would even pass on the cost of tariffs to consumers in the first place. “It’s nonsense,” he told CNBC. “A 10% tariff is not going to change virtually any price,” he said – conveniently ignoring the much higher tariffs Trump has placed on goods from China, which can reach as high as 245%, a level that virtually all economists agree would push prices sharply higher for affected goods.
Speaking on the Senate floor, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer encouraged businesses to disclose any increases in their import costs. “To the large businesses that sell to consumers, I say show your customers how much tariffs are hurting in their pocketbook,” he said. “People deserve to know the impact tariffs have on their finances.”