'Remarkable': CNN's Kaitlan Collins left in awe by 'aggressive' White House swipe
The White House's response to retail giant Amazon's plans to display price increases caused by President Donald Trump's tariffs drew robust commentary from CNN analysts Tuesday.
In a morning press briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt called Amazon's move "a hostile and political act by Amazon."
"It was remarkable that Karoline Leavitt said she had just gotten off the phone with President Trump...and it was an incredibly aggressive response," CNN's Kaitlan Collins began. "The White House saying they believe that that is a hostile move by Amazon to do that and to list those prices and reflect basically what the impact of the president's tariffs are going to be."
Collins said that Trump's response was "all the more notable" because of his relationship with Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon and The Washington Post.
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"If I had told you this was the response from the White House eight years ago, you might not have been as surprised," Collins continued. "That was when the president was openly feuding with Jeff Bezos, was highly critical of The Washington Post and its coverage of him. But Jeff Bezos came to the president's inauguration. He was seated there among him. He has had dinner with him. He's been here at the White House since then. And, so, it is remarkable to to hear what the White House's response to that was."
Global economic analyst Rana Foroohar told CNN that the "powerful" transparency being offered by Amazon is "an amazing use of the incredible amounts of big data that these companies have."
She continued by agreeing that it was a "very political" move on Amazon's part.
"The White House "called it a hostile and political act, which did sound very threatening in terms of what the president was channeling to Jeff Bezos there," Foroohar said.
"I think it's also very interesting in terms of where big tech and where some of the largest and most powerful CEOs in the country stand in relation to Trump, and I was wondering when this penny was going to drop. Because, yes, you saw, as Kaitlan said, them all sitting in the front row at the inauguration, it was the sort of parade of American oligarchs. On the other hand, boy, have their businesses been hit by liberation day.