A report suggesting Amazon might display the impact of new tariffs alongside product prices was enough to trigger an immediate backlash from the Trump administration, which denounced the idea as a politically charged affront.
According to a scoop published by Punchbowl News, Amazon has been exploring whether to show customers how much of a product’s final price reflects tariffs imposed under President Donald Trump’s new trade regime, rolled out after what the administration has dubbed “Liberation Day.”
The White House quickly and forcefully pushed back.
“This is a hostile and political act,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt at a briefing Tuesday in Washington, flanked by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. “Where was this kind of transparency when inflation under Joe Biden hit a 40-year high?” she added, noting she had just discussed the issue with Trump himself. According to reports, the president later spoke directly with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos about the matter.
At the center of the dispute is the possibility that Amazon could break down how much of an item’s cost is tied to the administration’s sweeping new tariffs — a move the White House fears could be seen as a veiled critique of Trump’s trade policy.
Amazon denied the report within hours. Spokesperson Tim Doyle said the idea had only been informally considered by a team working on “Haul,” a budget-focused segment of Amazon’s business designed to compete with platforms like Temu.
“It was a limited internal discussion about potentially displaying certain import duties on select products,” Doyle said. “It was never under consideration for the main Amazon site and hasn’t been implemented on any Amazon platform.” In a follow-up statement, the company emphasized that “no such feature has been approved, and it will not move forward.”
Amazon shares dropped nearly 2% at the open on Tuesday following the White House’s remarks but later recovered to close just below even.
The spat adds a new layer to the already fraught relationship between Trump and Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, a paper long associated with centrist Democratic circles. After years of friction, tensions had appeared to ease during the 2024 campaign. In the wake of an assassination attempt on Trump at a Pennsylvania rally, Bezos publicly praised the then-candidate’s “remarkable courage” and offered support for tax reform and deregulation. He was later criticized for allegedly censoring a Post editorial endorsing Kamala Harris days before the vote.
Trump’s tariff strategy, rolled out on April 2, introduced a 10% blanket duty on nearly all imported goods, along with a 145% tariff on select products from China. A second wave of increases is scheduled for July unless bilateral deals are reached. So far, Treasury Secretary Bessent said, between 15 and 17 countries are in negotiations with the U.S. to secure exemptions. China, however, is not among them.
Speaking to CNBC, Bessent called on Beijing to take the initiative. “As I’ve said repeatedly, it’s up to China to de-escalate,” he said. “They sell to us five times what we sell to them. Tariffs of 125% simply aren’t sustainable.”
Retailers and consumers are already feeling the impact. Temu has begun listing customs duties as a separate line item in customer receipts. At the Port of Los Angeles, executive director Gene Seroka said many importers have paused orders from China. “No one wants to pay two-and-a-half times the value of the goods until things become clearer,” Seroka told reporters.
According to Axios, executives from Walmart, Target, and Home Depot have privately urged the administration to reconsider the tariff plan, warning it could drive up consumer prices and lead to empty shelves in the coming months.
Bessent defended the administration’s approach as a deliberate element of trade negotiation. “The president creates strategic uncertainty to secure better trade terms,” he said, while acknowledging that some firms have delayed investments. “But the tax bill we plan to pass this summer will offer clarity and real incentives for building factories and buying equipment in America.”
The draft legislation includes deductions for companies investing in domestic production, and full tax exemptions for tips, overtime pay, and installments on U.S.-made car purchases. On the campaign trail, Trump has also pledged to eliminate the payroll tax altogether.
