President Trump Criticizes Amazon on Twitter

President Trump took to Twitter recently to criticize e-commerce giant Amazon for their low tax payments in many U.S. states.

In a tweet posted to his @realDonaldTrump account, President Trump called out e-commerce giant Amazon for seemingly unfair business practices. “I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election,” said the President. He continued “Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!”

I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 29, 2018

During a White House briefing this week, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that President Trump wants “a level playing field “for all businesses but stated that “there aren’t any specific policies on the table at this time.” This would seem to corroborate reports from earlier this week in which insiders said that President Trump was considering regulation on Amazon, not Facebook despite their most recent user data scandal.

“He’s obsessed with Amazon,” a source said. “Obsessed.” President Trump is reportedly considering altering Amazon’s tax treatment as he is worried that the e-commerce giant may put small, privately owned “mom-and-pop” stores out of business. One source stated: “He’s wondered aloud if there may be any way to go after Amazon with antitrust or competition law.”

President Trump has previously been critical of Amazon’s treatment of the United States Postal Service. The President previously stated in a tweet “Why is the United States Post Office, which is losing many billions of dollars a year, while charging Amazon and others so little to deliver their packages, making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer? Should be charging MUCH MORE!” A source stated “The whole post office thing, that’s very much a perception he has. It’s been explained to him in multiple meetings that his perception is inaccurate and that the post office actually makes a ton of money from Amazon.”

Trump’s claim that the USPS is losing billions of dollars is entirely correct, in 2016 the USPS announced a $5.6 billion net loss and in 2017 stated a $2.7 billion net loss, making this the eleventh year that the Postal Service has announced a loss. The total from 2007-17 amounts to a staggering $65.1 billion in losses. Things do not seem to be looking up for the organization anytime soon, with the USPS predicting in their public 2018 Integrated Financial Plan that they would suffer a net loss of $5.2 billion in 2018. With mail volume at a 29 year low and amassing large amounts of debt, the Postal Service is facing a tough time ahead.