WASHINGTON—In a splashy Tuesday morning scoop, Punchbowl News revealed that Amazon would start displaying how much an item’s cost had derived from tariffs next to the product’s total listed price. By noon, Jeff Bezos had backed down.
In the hours in between, Bezos received a private blasting from President Donald Trump, which happened to come just after he took a very public one from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Leavitt took her briefing room podium ready for the question: she had an article printed out that showed Bezos beneath the headline “Amazon partnered with China propaganda arm.”
“I’ll take this question since I just got off the phone with the president about Amazon’s announcement,” Leavitt said from the podium. “This was a hostile and political act by Amazon. Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years?”
She added, “It’s not a surprise, because, as Reuters recently wrote, Amazon has partnered with a Chinese propaganda arm.”
A source familiar with the day’s events told The Daily Wire that as Leavitt was publicly laying into Bezos, Trump, who watches all of the White House press briefings, was privately calling him and bringing the hammer down.
It was a two-pronged approach that highlights the role Leavitt plays in the White House: not just the president’s spokeswoman, but his secret weapon in high-stakes fights. “Karoline and POTUS are a one-two punch,” a source familiar with how the day unfolded shared with The Daily Wire.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent take questions from reporters on April 29, 2025. (Photo by STAFF/AFP via Getty Images)
The president was made aware of the story on Tuesday morning before Leavitt strode into the briefing at 8:30 a.m., flanked by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, to discuss how the Trump administration is “unleashing economic greatness.”
Leavitt used the news of Amazon’s slight to push that economic message, but also to lay into Bezos and his company.
“So this is another reason why Americans should buy American. It’s another reason why we are on-shoring critical supply chains here at home to shore up our own critical supply chain, and boost our own manufacturing here,” Leavitt said.
Pressed on whether Bezos is “still a Trump supporter,” she responded: “Look, I will not speak to the president’s relationship with Jeff Bezos but I will tell you that this was certainly a hostile and political action by Amazon.”
The incident prompted a slew of headlines and social media posts highlighting Leavitt’s characterization of Amazon as “hostile.”
Punchbowl broke the Amazon news in a Tuesday morning story literally sponsored by the company (Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this point).
“Amazon doesn’t want to shoulder the blame for the cost of President Donald Trump’s trade war,” reported the publication. “So the e-commerce giant will soon show how much Trump’s tariffs are adding to the price of each product.”
Amid the buzz, and shortly after the briefing ended, Walmart announced a new “Grow With Us” initiative (announced exclusively with Axios) focused on “expanding support for American-made products” and “providing small businesses with new tools and paths for success.”
“With Grow with US and the upcoming 2025 Open Call, Walmart is making it easier for U.S.-based entrepreneurs to navigate the complexities of retail and bring their products to a national stage,” Walmart said in a Tuesday release.
Leavitt quickly celebrated the move by Amazon’s competitor, calling it the “Trump effect.”
And by 11:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Amazon was refuting the report it had exclusively shared with Punchbowl in its sponsored story.
“The team that runs our ultra-low-cost Amazon Haul store considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products,” Amazon spokesperson Tim Doyle said, adding: “This was never approved and is not going to happen.”
Trump himself addressed the matter as he headed to Michigan to rally in honor of the first 100 days of his second term.
“Jeff Bezos was very nice,” the president told reporters outside the White House. “He was terrific. He solved the problem very quickly and he did the right thing. He’s a good guy.”
