Amazon denies plan to increase price transparency for customers after being labeled “political and hostile” by the White House

Though Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has made decisions within the businesses he owns to cozy up to the Trump administration, including a $40 million deal with Melania Trump for a show on Prime Video and preventing The Washington Post’s editorial board from endorsing either candidate in the 2024 election, it appears that the billionaire is on thin ice with the White House.

Bezos attended President Trump’s inauguration, sitting front and center, back in January.

Amazon backtracks after coming under fire from the White House

During today’s WHite House Press Confernece, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked a move by Amazon to show customers how much of the price increase they were facing was attributable to tariffs.

Leavitt described the reported plan as a “political and hostile act.”

The attacks from the White House did not end there. Leavitt also added that Amazon had been collaborating with a Chinese media company, accusing the e-commerce site of peddling messaging favorable to China, as it also benefited their bottom line.

Amazon’s stock has taken a beating following the comments, falling 1 percent in early trading. The company, as well as many third-party vendors that use Amazon to sell their goods, is highly dependent on imports from China, many of which are being taxed at 145 percent due to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

After a few hours of trading in the red, Amazon announced that it was not considering adding these price transparency features to the platform. However, Jeff Stein of The Washington Post, reported that Amazon’s spokesperson confirmed that the publishing of import duties was being considered for those shopping through Amazon Haul.

In the statement, the company makes clear that they had never planned to provide information to consumers over the impact tariffs were having on the “main Amazon site.”

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