WASHINGTON - Amazon on Tuesday denied a report that it planned to list the costs of President Donald Trump's tariffs next to total prices of products after the White House slammed the mega online retailer earlier in the day.
The clash came after PunchBowl News, citing an unnamed source, reported the shopping site will soon display the share of a product's cost that is derived from massive tariffs Trump rolled out this month.
"I just got off the phone with the president about the Amazon announcement. This is a hostile and political act by Amazon," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at an April 29 morning briefing with reporters.
But a spokeswoman of Amazon, led by founder Jeff Bezos, later denied the company is making the change and said it was only exploring the idea for its online shop for discounted goods, Amazon Haul, not the full Amazon website.
"The team that runs our ultra low cost Amazon Haul store considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products," Amazon spokeswoman Rachael Lighty said in statement to USA TODAY. "This was never approved and is not going to happen."
Amazon's efforts to clarify its intentions came after the White House had already blasted the second largest retailer in the U.S. in what initially seemed like an escalating battle between Trump and Bezos.
"Why did Amazon do this (now) when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in four years?" Leavitt said, adding that "it's not really a surprise" because "Amazon has partnered with a Chinese propaganda arm."
Leavitt held up a printed copy of a 2021 story from Reuters that detailed how Amazon complied with a Chinese government edict preventing customers from rating the government-published book by Chinese President Xi Jinping on Amazon's Chinese website.
Like several other tech billionaires, Bezos has sought to curry favor with the new administration and met with Trump multiple times since his election win. Bezos, also the owner of the Washington Post, announced before the 2024 presidential election that the newspaper would not endorse in the race for the first time in 36 years.
"I will not speak to the president's relationships with Jeff Bezos," Leavitt said when a reporter asked whether Bezos remains a Trump supporter.
Amazon and other retailers fiercely oppose Trump's universal tariffs that the president imposed at the beginning of April. The tariff rate on China, a major U.S. trade partner, is currently 145% ‒ a significant toll that economists warn will be passed on to consumers.
Appearing alongside Leavitt at the White House on April 29, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said 18 countries have put forward trade proposals to the U.S. as the administration negotiates deals that could include lowering the tariffs. He said Trump's economic team will continue to meet with leaders of these countries in the coming weeks. Bessent cited progress with India, South Korea and Japan toward potential deals.
The Trump administration exempted smartphones, computers and other electronics from reciprocal tariffs but Trump officials said it's only a temporary pause and the products will face new levies when Trump rolls out tariffs on semiconductors.
Representatives of three top U.S. retailers ‒ Walmart, Target and Home Depot ‒ met with Trump at the White House on April 21 to discuss their concerns about Trump's tariffs.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
(This story has been updated with more information.)