Amazon triggered political shockwaves this week by announcing that the company will display the portion of each item's price attributable to President Donald Trump's tariffs when customers make purchases — a move that White House immediately attacked.
Trump's press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday called it a "hostile and political act" against the president to disclose to consumers the price increases.
But many commenters on social media, however, applauded the transparency — and speculated it might wake people up to exactly what Trump's policies are costing them.
"Every outlet should do this," wrote Philadelphia-based award-winning investigative journalist and columnist Victoria Brownworth, noting that "Temu, the inexpensive clothing outlet, has posted a 177% increase due to tariffs." Temu, being a Chinese-based firm, has been hit particularly hard by Trump's punitive tariffs on that country.
"You gotta think this type of thing starts to really wear at public opinion," wrote tech marketing adviser Katie Perry. "Every time you buy something you’re reminded of the added tariff tax you’re paying..."
Leavitt's public attacks on Amazon, meanwhile, triggered another wave of mockery.
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"AMAZON PLAN TO SHOW TARIFF COSTS A 'HOSTILE' ACT, LEAVITT SAYS," wrote New York-based hedge fund manager Spencer Hakimian. "Why? Because it lets people know exactly why and how much their cost of living just arbitrarily went up?"
Not every Trump critic was quite ready to put aside their other political gripes with Amazon to laud them over the tariff decision, however.
"With a note to tell customers Bezos helped to elect Trump, right?" wrote former Bernie Sanders organizer Melissa Byrne.
Bezos did not publicly endorse a candidate in the 2024 election; however, his dark money contributions overwhelmingly went to Republicans including some 2020 election conspiracy theorists, he personally intervened to block The Washington Post, which he owns, from endorsing Kamala Harris for president, and he contributed $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund after the election.
