The Blubber

Amazon on Tuesday pushed back against a report that it planned to show the cost of President Donald Trump’s tariffs alongside product prices, following sharp criticism from the White House and a personal call from Trump to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

The confrontation stemmed from a Punchbowl News article citing an anonymous source who claimed Amazon would soon begin displaying how much of a product’s price is due to the steep tariffs Trump imposed earlier this month.

“I just got off the phone with the president about the Amazon announcement. This is a hostile and political act by Amazon,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt during a morning briefing on April 29.

A senior White House official confirmed to USA TODAY that Trump contacted Bezos directly Tuesday morning to voice his objections after reading the report.

However, Amazon later denied any such plans. Spokeswoman Rachael Lighty clarified that the idea had only been considered for Amazon Haul, the company’s discount shopping platform—not for the main Amazon site.

“The team that runs our ultra low cost Amazon Haul store considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products,” Lighty said. “This was never approved and is not going to happen.”

Amazon’s clarification came after the administration had already gone on the offensive against the e-commerce giant—America’s second-largest retailer—framing the issue as part of a larger political rift between Trump and Bezos.

Leavitt further questioned the timing, asking why Amazon hadn’t taken similar action “when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in four decades.” She added, “It’s not really a surprise,” claiming, “Amazon has partnered with a Chinese propaganda arm.”

To illustrate her point, Leavitt held up a printed 2021 Reuters article describing how Amazon, in response to a directive from the Chinese government, had restricted customer reviews on a book by President Xi Jinping on its China-based site.