WH Press Secretary Melts Down at Bezos for Calling Out Cost of Tariffs

The once-warm relationship between President Donald Trump and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is cooling — fast.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt unloaded on Bezos Tuesday morning, accusing Amazon of launching a political attack on the president’s America First trade policies. Her fiery comments came after reports surfaced that Amazon considered highlighting how much Trump’s new tariffs would add to product prices.

“This is nothing short of a political stunt,” Leavitt said. “Where was this outrage when Joe Biden’s inflation gutted American families for four straight years? Amazon didn’t blink then. But now they suddenly care about prices?”

Leavitt, speaking at the White House briefing room, didn’t hold back. Holding up a printed article, she pointed out that Amazon has long faced allegations of cozying up to the Chinese Communist Party.

“Let’s be clear,” Leavitt said, waving the paper. “This is a company that literally partnered with Chinese state media to sell Xi Jinping’s propaganda. And now they’re pretending to be concerned about American consumers? Give me a break.”

The controversy erupted after Punchbowl News reported Amazon planned to display how Trump’s tariffs impacted prices on its “Amazon Haul” store — a bargain shopping app that critics have called a knockoff of China’s Temu.

Amazon scrambled to do damage control.

A company spokesperson told The Washington Post that tariff price disclosures were only floated for Amazon Haul, not the main Amazon.com site. “This was never a consideration for our primary platform,” Amazon said. Later, Amazon revised its statement to CNN, insisting the policy “was never approved and will not happen.”

But for many, the damage was already done.

“Make no mistake — this was a trial balloon,” a senior White House official told me privately. “Amazon wanted to stick it to Trump and hope nobody noticed. Now they’re backpedaling because we called them out.”

The backlash is especially striking given Bezos’ recent overtures to the MAGA movement.

Bezos made headlines last fall when he blocked The Washington Post — which he owns — from endorsing Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. His decision triggered a wave of resignations among left-leaning staff and caused a sharp decline in the paper’s subscriptions.

Bezos also attended Trump’s second inauguration in January, sitting alongside other tech giants like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg inside the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. He even made a quiet trip to Mar-a-Lago last December, where sources said he pledged to work more closely with Trump’s agenda.

Now, that alliance looks shaky.

When pressed Tuesday whether Bezos still supports the president, Leavitt chose her words carefully.

“I won’t comment on private relationships,” she said, “but I will say this: Amazon’s actions speak louder than any private conversation.”

For Trump’s supporters, the fight over tariffs is about much more than trade. It’s about putting American workers first, challenging China’s economic dominance, and refusing to let global corporations sabotage patriotic policies.

As Leavitt put it bluntly: “President Trump is fighting for the American people. Amazon should decide whose side they’re on.”