President Trump has demanded that the U.S. Postal Service charge Amazon twice as much to ship packages, even personally pressuring the postmaster general on multiple occasions, The Washington Post reported Friday.
Megan Brennan, the postmaster general, has had several meetings with Trump, sources said, and pushed back on his demand by explaining that the Amazon-Post Office relationship is complex and that the USPS can't just back out of a contract. Trump has claimed that Amazon is costing the USPS billions of dollars, insisting that taxpayers are paying the price in an unfair deal.
The president's assertions have been widely debunked: The Postal Service actually benefits enormously from Amazon, and some argue that the online retailer is keeping the agency afloat. Critics say Trump's Amazon obsession is actually about his vendetta against Jeff Bezos, who both founded Amazon and owns the Post.
Trump alleges that the federal government is unfairly subsidizing Amazon's business costs, claiming the deal has forced small businesses to close. Last month, the president ordered a task force to review the Postal Service's business practices to rectify its "unsustainable financial path." Read more at The Washington Post.