President Donald Trump called Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on Tuesday morning to complain about a news report that said the e-commerce giant would display the costs of the administration’s new tariffs to consumers, according to two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private conversation.
Amazon disputed the news report. In an emailed statement, company spokesman Tim Doyle said the team that runs Haul, Amazon’s low-cost Temu competitor, “has considered listing import charges on certain products.” But it “was never a consideration for the main Amazon site,” Doyle said, “and nothing has been implemented on any Amazon properties.” In an updated statement later, the company said that “this was never approved and is not going to happen.”
Talking to reporters Tuesday afternoon, Trump praised Bezos and said the Amazon founder had done “the right thing.”
“Jeff Bezos is very nice. Terrific,” Trump said, according to a pool report. “He solved the problem very quickly. He did the right thing. Good guy.” (Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
Punchbowl News reported early Tuesday that Amazon would display the costs, citing an unnamed source. At a joint news conference Tuesday with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said she “just got off the phone” with Trump about Amazon’s reported plans and criticized the company.
“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?”
Leavitt declined to comment on Trump’s relationship with Bezos, who has courted Trump during the president’s second term.
CNN first reported Trump’s phone call. A senior official later clarified that the call was “good” rather than about Trump complaining.
Amazon’s stock sank on Leavitt’s comments when trading opened Tuesday morning.
The comments reflect increasing political peril for the White House as the effects of its global trade war reach more Americans. While many economic indicators have remained healthy, the tariffs imposed by the administration, particularly on China, are expected to become more visible in the coming weeks and months. Nearly 2 out of 3 Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the tariffs, a recent Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll found.
Retailers have been struggling to navigate new tariffs on Chinese goods, in particular — import taxes on products made in China amount to 145 percent. Many importers have paused shipments from China, delaying the delivery of appliances, electronics, cribs, clothing and more, as they wait for clarity on the trade policy. The tariffs are likely to drive up prices on Amazon, where small businesses selling Chinese-made goods have been scrambling to understand how their costs will change or to find alternative suppliers.
Temu started listing “import charges” recently to show customers the cost of tariffs separately from the prices of goods, and Temu and Shein said they were forced to increase prices on Friday because of increased costs tied to the U.S. trade policy. In addition to the tariffs placed on Chinese goods, the Trump administration this week is closing the “de minimis” exemption that allowed low-cost shipments from China to escape customs duties.
“Folks are not shipping out of China right now because they’re not going to pay two and a half times for those goods that are coming in, until we get some semblance of a plan,” Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said in an April 11 news briefing.
The CEOs of Walmart, Target and Home Depot — three of the country’s largest retailers — warned the president last week that tariffs on Chinese goods would soon lead to higher prices and empty shelves, Axios reported.
