US President Donald Trump has escalated his criticism of Amazon and CEO Jeff Bezos, saying the White House will take a “serious look” at addressing what he sees as an uneven playing field between the e-commerce giant and its competitors.
“Amazon is just not on an even playing field,” President Trump told a press pack assembled on Air Force One in the US yesterday.
“I’m going to study it and we’re going to take a look. We’re going to take a very serious look at [levelling the playing field].
“It’s very important for me, it’s got to be an even playing field for everybody.”
The comments are just the latest in a myriad of criticisms levied at Amazon and Bezos in recent weeks by the President, who has also criticised the business for its impact on the US postal service and not paying adequate sales tax.
“What they have is a very uneven playing field, you look at the sales tax situation — which is going to be taken up, I guess, very soon — it’s going to be a decision by the Supreme Court, so we’ll see what happens,” the President said yesterday.
Amazon charges sales tax in a variety of US states with applicable regulation, but this does not apply to third party sellers on its platform.
Amazon’s share price sank more than 5 per cent last week on reports that Trump was looking to target the company with tax reforms, but aides have reportedly since clarified that no such plans are in motion. Trump has also argued that Amazon receives favourable rates with the US Postal Service and is weighing it down with the volume of its deliveries, although the e-commerce giant accounted for more than a third of the postal service’s US$19.5 billion in revenue last year.