Report: President Trump is Fixated with Amazon – Wants to Change Its Tax Treatment

Jim Hoft by Jim Hoft March 28, 2018

According to reports President Trump is “obsessing” over Amazon and wants to “go after” the tech giant.

Business and real estate leaders tell Trump that Amazon is ruining their businesses.

And, of course, President Trump is not a fan of Jeff Bezos’s mouthpiece the Trump-hating Washington Post.

CNBC reported:

President Donald Trump is not a fan of Amazon.

Axios is reporting that Trump wants to “go after” the e-commerce giant, citing five sources who have talked about Amazon with him.

“He’s obsessed with Amazon,” one source told the media outlet. “Obsessed.”

Trump has discussed altering the company’s tax treatment because several of his friends told him Amazon is hurting their businesses and “killing shopping malls and brick-and-mortar retailers,” according to Axios.

Amazon shares fell 5.7 percent Wednesday after the report.

Trump has blasted Amazon on social media in the past, saying the e-commerce company is hurting the retail industry and causing U.S. job losses.

Axios reported on President Trump fixation with Amazon.

What we’re hearing: Trump has talked about changing Amazon’s tax treatment because he’s worried about mom-and-pop retailers being put out of business.

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  • A source who’s spoken to POTUS: “He’s wondered aloud if there may be any way to go after Amazon with antitrust or competition law.”
  • Trump’s deep-seated antipathy toward Amazon surfaces when discussing tax policy and antitrust cases. The president would love to clip CEO Jeff Bezos’ wings. But he doesn’t have a plan to make that happen.

Behind the president’s thinking: Trump’s wealthy friends tell him Amazon is destroying their businesses. His real estate buddies tell him — and he agrees — that Amazon is killing shopping malls and brick-and-mortar retailers.

  • Trump tells people Amazon has gotten a free ride from taxpayers and cushy treatment from the U.S. Postal Service.
  • “The whole post office thing, that’s very much a perception he has,” another source said. “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.”

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