Warren Slams Bezos After Amazon Backtracks on Tariff Price Transparency, Questions Bezos’ Conversation With Trump
“These reports raise questions about the nature of your conversations with President Trump, and what promises or favors you may have received in exchange for your subservience to him.”
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) slammed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in a new letter, following reports that Amazon considered an initiative to illustrate the cost of President Trump’s tariffs to customers — only to reverse course after a private conversation between Bezos and Trump.
“If Amazon had followed through on any plans to provide transparency on tariff costs, it could have provided important information for consumers, allowing them to find out for themselves some of the true costs of President Trump’s broad and chaotic tariff policies,” wrote Senator Warren.
Amazon, one of the nation’s largest retailers, has a significant stake in the outcome of President Trump’s tariffs. According to a recent report, Amazon was planning to “show how much [President] Trump’s tariffs are adding to the price of each product” on at least one of its websites by displaying “how much of an item’s cost is derived from tariffs.”
On Tuesday morning, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt spoke strongly against Amazon’s decision to show the price of tariffs, calling the move a “hostile and political act.” But before the company could put this plan into place, President Trump reportedly called Bezos and asked him to intervene. The price transparency initiative was then reversed.
President Trump confirmed Bezos’s role in the decision not to provide transparency on tariff costs, saying that “Jeff Bezos was very nice. He was terrific… He solved the problem very quickly. Good guy.”
“[Y]esterday’s activity appears to be another example of Big Tech working together with President Trump to seek special favors or support his policies in what can appear to be a quid pro quo,” wrote Senator Warren, highlighting the chaos, corruption, and economic damage that has accompanied Trump’s tariff rollout. She requested that Bezos provide information about the nature of his conversations with Trump and any potential secret deals between the two.
Senator Warren previously pressed Apple CEO Tim Cook on his engagement with the Trump administration following its announcement of China tariffs, which resulted in massive tariff exemptions for Apple products.
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