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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed digital seller Amazon for engaging in a “hostile and political act” after reports have emerged that the e-commerce behemoth will begin displaying cost hike percentages of products on applicable tariffed goods on its site.
“This is a hostile and political act by Amazon,” Leavitt said Tuesday morning, during a press briefing. “Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years? …Amazon has partnered with a Chinese propaganda arm.”
She added, “This is another reason why Americans should buy American.”
PunchBowl News initially reported on this alleged development, noting that the site plans to “display how much of an item’s cost is derived from tariffs – right next to the product’s total listed price.”
Leavitt explained during her remarks that aside from providing “another reason” for Americans to buy American-made products, “it’s another reason why we are onshoring critical supply chains here at home, to shore up our own critical supply chain and boost our own manufacturing.”
Amid ongoing fluctuations in the market during President Trump’s tariff negotiations with foreign countries, Amazon’s latest announcement has drawn attention to the reality that around 70 percent of the items it sells are made in China, per AltIndex.
Right now, China is facing as much as a 245 percent tariff on some imported goods into the U.S. “as a result of its retaliatory actions,” the White House says.
This high number includes the 125 percent reciprocal tariff, as well as a 20 percent tariff for their part in facilitating the fentanyl crisis in the United States.
According to AltIndex, Amazon sells almost 2.5 more goods from China than from the United States, seeming to illustrate its dependence on foreign production.
President Donald Trump has made it clear that companies who choose to move their production into the domestic United States will benefit the most.
He wrote earlier this month, “This is a GREAT time to move your COMPANY into the United States of America, like Apple, and so many others, in record numbers, are doing. ZERO TARIFFS, and almost immediate Electrical/Energy hook ups and approvals. No Environmental Delays. DON’T WAIT, DO IT NOW!”