What happened
The White House lashed out at Amazon Tuesday following a report that the online retail giant planned to list the added cost from President Donald Trump's tariffs alongside product prices on its website. Trump called Amazon founder Jeff Bezos personally to complain about the idea and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called it a "hostile and political act." Amazon later said the kerfuffle was a misunderstanding.
Who said what
Amazon's discount Haul site "has considered listing import charges on certain products," but this was "never a consideration for the main Amazon site," company spokesperson Tim Doyle said in a statement. "This was never approved and is not going to happen." Bezos "was very nice," Trump told reporters Tuesday afternoon. "He solved a problem very quickly and he did the right thing. He's a good guy."
Instead of "owning" its tariff policy, the White House "bullied Amazon to keep quiet about what it will cost," The Wall Street Journal said in an editorial. Amazon did not invent that idea, The Associated Press said. Hotels and ride-share services "have long itemized added costs" for consumers.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What next?
The White House "clearly" wants to head off any scheme that gives consumers a "regular reminder of precisely how much Trump’s tariffs are costing them personally," Aaron Blake said at The Washington Post. "But when it comes to how much Trump owns the potential economic pain ahead, that ship has apparently sailed." Denying the "tariff pain" won't make it go away, the Journal editorial board said, "but repealing the tariffs would."
-
Weapons: Julia Garner stars in 'hyper-eerie' psychological thrillerThe Week Recommends Zach Cregger's 'top notch' new film opens with 17 children disappearing at exactly the same time
-
Freakier Friday: Lohan and Curtis reunite for 'uneven' but 'endearing' sequelThe Week Recommends Mother-and-daughter comedy returns with four characters switching bodies
-
Al fresco art: the UK's best sculpture parksThe Week Recommends Soak up the scenery with a stroll through these open-air galleries
-
Switzerland could experience unique economic problems from Trump's tariffsIn the Spotlight The current US tariff rate on Switzerland is among the highest in the world
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
Jaguar's Adrian Mardell steps down: a Maga maulingSpeed Read Jaguar Land Rover had come under fire for 'woke' advertising campaign
-
How is Trump's economy doing?Talking Points The latest jobs numbers suggest a slowdown in the offing
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Is Trump's tariffs plan working?Today's Big Question Trump has touted 'victories', but inflation is the 'elephant in the room'
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
