Karoline Leavitt Nukes Jeff Bezos, Amazon Over Tariff Pricing Move

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos for engaging in a "hostile and political act" following news that the company would include tariff pricing in the costs of products sold on the global e-commerce site.

According to Punchbowl News, Amazon plans to display the portion of a product’s price it claims to be attributable to President Trump’s tariffs directly next to the total listed price.

The move is an attempt to blame potential cost increases directly on the administration's efforts to negotiate better trade deals through tariffs.

"Amazon doesn’t want to shoulder the blame for the cost of President Donald Trump’s trade war," the outlet reported Tuesday. "The shopping site will display how much of an item’s cost is derived from tariffs – right next to the product’s total listed price."

NEWS in @punchbowlnews AM: @amazon will start displaying how much of an item’s cost is derived from tariffs – right next to the product’s total listed price.https://t.co/jztIoG46vS
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) April 29, 2025

Democrats Hysterical Over Musk and Trump Said ZERO About Billionaires' Impact on Biden White House

Leavitt, in a press briefing alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, absolutely leveled Amazon and Bezos over the move. She indicated she had just gotten off the phone with President Trump and, in an understatement, he is not pleased.

“This is a hostile and political act by Amazon,” Leavitt said. “Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years? And I would also add that it's not a surprise because, as Reuters recently wrote, Amazon has partnered with a Chinese propaganda arm.”

"So this is another reason why Americans should buy American," she added. "It's another reason why we are onshoring critical supply chains here at home, to shore up our own critical supply chain, and boost our own manufacturing case."

🚨 TENSION WITH BEZOS?!@PressSec just called out Jeff Bezos and Amazon for pushing tariff price increases on the site:

"This is CERTAINLY a hostile and political action by Amazon!"

"Amazon has partnered with a Chinese propaganda arm. So this is another reason why Americans… pic.twitter.com/xRWLSjCpE4
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 29, 2025

Leavitt held up a Reuters report from 2021 that indicated Amazon had agreed not to publish ratings and reviews of Chinese President Xi Jinping's book, "The Governance of China," on its Chinese site, Amazon.cn.

An internal briefing document, they wrote, had shown "Amazon partnered with an arm of China's propaganda apparatus to create a selling portal on the company's U.S. site, Amazon.com – a project that came to be known as China Books."

Partnering with the CCP propaganda machine is not what any American company should be doing.

Amazon's claim that their tariff cost indicators would be even vaguely accurate is absurd, given the complex, fluctuating nature of global supply chains and the difficulty of isolating tariff impacts on individual product prices.

Does the e-shopping giant have a similar tariff tracker to monitor the costs associated with American-made products when China implements the same?

Perhaps it'd be simpler to mark products that are 'Made in America' and post a number tracking the cost savings of choosing those items over something shipped in from China.

Trump's view of Amazon's move as a bending of the knee to China is unlikely to go over well, especially considering Bezos's newfound respect for the President since his election.

Bezos, through Amazon, donated $1 million to Trump’s 2025 inauguration fund and committed to streaming the event on Prime Video, representing an additional $1 million in-kind donation. He also attended the inauguration.

When asked by a reporter if the Amazon founder is still a supporter of the President, Leavitt declined to answer but did reiterate disdain for the tariff pricing move.

"Look, I will not speak to the President's relationships with Jeff Bezos, but I will tell you that this is certainly a hostile and political action by Amazon."

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