Last week, during a briefing with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the breaking news that Amazon intended to display how much of an item’s cost would be a result of tariffs—a move she slammed as a “hostile and political act.”
“Why didn't Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation tot he highest level in 40 years?” she said. “I would also add it's not a surprise because, as Reuters recently wrote, Amazon has partnered with a Chinese propaganda arm. This is another reason Americans should buy American. 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.”
While the company went on to deny the plan, saying the team that runs their “ultra low cost Amazon Haul store…considered listing import charges on certain products”—something that was never discussed for Amazon’s main site—President Trump on Sunday gave a bit more context to the company’s about-face.
Asked by NBC’s Kristen Welker what he said to Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos, the president emphasized his style is always to pick up the phone when he believes “somebody’s doing something that’s incorrect, wrong, or maybe hurtful to the country.”
And with the case of Amazon, Trump said Bezos is “just a very nice guy. We have a relationship. I asked him about it. He said, ‘Well, I don’t want to do that,’ and he took it off immediately.”
.@POTUS on calling CEOs: "I'll always call people if I disagree with them. If I think that somebody is doing something that's incorrect, wrong, or may be hurtful to the country, I'll call — absolutely. Wouldn't you want me to call?" pic.twitter.com/jyAx6QH2GG
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 4, 2025
Welker also asked Trump if he would "punish CEOs who increase their prices because of tariffs," but Trump said he doesn't see tariffs as a tax, but rather as an incentive to come and invest in the U.S.
"What people don’t understand is...the country eats the tariff," he said. "The company eats the tariff. And it’s not passed along at all."
Companies that claim they have to pass it on to the consumer likely say that "because maybe it's to their advantage to say it," but regardless, Trump said he is not interested in punishing them.
"I want them to build plants in the United States. That way, they don’t have any tariffs," he said. "See, tariffs will — and not only will, look at what’s happened. In two months, we’re close to $9 trillion of investment. We’ve never been anywhere near that."