Donald Trump launched into a furious phone call to Amazon boss Jeff Bezos after the firm considered displaying the costs of the President’s tariffs on its product prices.
The White House publicly condemned the retailer’s move as a “hostile and political act” against America – with press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying she had spoken directly with President Trump about what she called the Amazon “bombshell”.
Leavitt blasted: “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?”
Then, two senior White House officials revealed to CNN that the President personally phoned Bezos to vent at the proposal.
The President personally phoned Bezos to vent at the proposal
REUTERS
“Of course he was p***ed,” an aide said about Trump. “Why should a multibillion dollar company pass off costs to consumers?”
The call came after the White House had already publicly condemned Amazon’s plan to make the costs of Trump’s tariffs public.
Shortly afterwards, an Amazon spokesman said they would not be implementing the tariff labelling.
“The team that runs our ultra low cost Amazon Haul store considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products. This was never approved and [is] not going to happen,” the spokesman said.
ONE MONTH SINCE TRUMP’S TARIFFS – READ MORE:
‘Of course he was p***ed,’ an aide said about Trump
REUTERS
Trump later confirmed to reporters that he had spoken with Bezos and resolved the issue.
“Jeff Bezos was very nice, he was terrific he solved the problem very quickly and he did the right thing,” he said.
The Amazon founder was not the only billionaire to clash with the President over his tariff regime.
Speaking in London on Tuesday, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson warned that the business world will be forced to contend with the “complete uncertainty” of Trump’s levies.
Richard Branson has warned that the business world will be forced to contend with the ‘complete uncertainty’ of Trump’s levies
PA
“I think that he [Trump] got a nasty shock when the whole world looked like it was going to melt down,” Branson said about the initial tariff rollout.
“When he thought he could get away with ridiculous tariffs, he had to backtrack and hopefully he’s learned his lesson and there will be a more sensible regime put in place – but with him you never know what’s going to happen.
“It’s that unpredictability that has done a lot of damage in the world in the last couple of months.”
