White House Blasts Amazon For ‘Hostile And Political Act’ Amid Confusion Over Tariff Pricing

The White House has called Amazon’s plans to include the cost of tariffs on the price tag for some products a “hostile and political act.”

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt blasted the online retail giant at a press briefing on Tuesday when asked about the Punchbowl News story.

“I just got off the phone with the president about Amazon’s announcement,” Leavitt told reporters. “This is a hostile and political act by Amazon.”

Punchbowl News reported that the retailer will show the amount tariffs have added to the price of an item next to its total price.

But an Amazon statement, which was released after the White House attack, said listing “import charges” was only being considered for Amazon Haul, its site for ultra-cheap products created to compete with Chinese rivals such as Temu and Shein, and the change won’t be happening.

Amazon said the idea “was never a consideration for the main Amazon site and nothing has been implemented on any Amazon properties.”

“The team that runs our ultra low cost Amazon Haul store considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products,” Tim Doyle, an Amazon spokesperson, said in a statement to HuffPost. “This was never approved and is not going to happen.”

Temu has already started adding an “import charges” breakdown in a shopper’s order, oftentimes doubling the price of the item.

A “pissed” President Donald Trump reportedly called Amazon owner Jeff Bezos to complain about the plan as reported by Punchbowl News, CNN later revealed.

When asked during the briefing whether the move would undermine the relationship between President Donald Trump and Amazon owner Jeff Bezos, Leavitt replied, “I will not speak to the president’s relationships with Jeff Bezos, but I will tell you that this is certainly a hostile political action by Amazon.”

Earlier this month, Trump paused his rollout of sweeping levies on imported goods after his “Liberation Day” announcement spooked global financial markets.

But super-high tariffs on China’s exports to the U.S. remain, and it’s yet to be seen how much Americans will be paying for goods when Trump’s delay ends.

“Telling the truth about the taxes you are paying because of Donald Trump is neither hostile nor political,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said on X in response to the news. “You cannot spin the price of things. Trust me, that was tried last year.”