Trump Delivers New Attack Against Amazon
03 Avril 2018 - 7:35PM
Dow Jones News
By Peter Nicholas and Laura Stevens
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump stepped up his attacks on
Amazon.com Inc. on Tuesday, sending out a tweet saying that the
company is a drain on the U.S. Postal Service, using the mail
system as a "delivery boy."
Amazon, he wrote, "should pay these costs (plus) and not have
them bourne [sic] by the American taxpayer."
The morning tweet is the fifth in five days Mr. Trump has aimed
at Amazon, whose stock has been buffeted by the president's
focus.
In his latest tweet, Mr. Trump also targeted the Postal Service
over what he said are the multibillion-dollar losses stemming from
Amazon deliveries.
"P.O. leaders don't have a clue (or do they?)!" he wrote.
In his tweets, Mr. Trump has invoked many of the same themes:
Amazon profits at the expense of the Postal Service and other
retailers suffer because of Amazon's enviable market position.
He has also spotlighted the ties between Amazon and the
Washington Post. Jeff Bezos, chief executive of the company also
owns the Washington Post.
In tweets over the past year he has complained repeatedly about
the newspaper's coverage while also suggesting without evidence the
Post is a "lobbyist" for Amazon.
An Amazon spokeswoman declined to comment. The U.S. Postal
Service didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
In remarks Monday, Washington Post Executive Editor Martin Baron
said the newspaper operates independently from Amazon and that Mr.
Bezos hasn't meddled in the Post's news coverage.
"I can't say more emphatically he's never suggested a story to
anybody here, he's never critiqued a story, he's never suppressed a
story," Mr. Baron said in an interview with the New York Times.
Amazon's stock price has taken a hit over the past week, hurt by
a broader stock-market slump and a news report regarding Mr.
Trump's anger with Amazon on Wednesday. Since the market's close a
week ago, the company's stock price has fallen 8% as of Tuesday
morning trading.
While the U.S. Postal Service does lose billions of dollars
annually, much of that is attributable to an unusual requirement it
prefund many of its pension liabilities. The service has also been
hard hit by a decline in first-class mail, one of its most
profitable products.
Amazon primarily uses the Postal Service for so-called last mile
delivery, where they sort and drop off packages at the local post
office and the letter carrier brings those to the door. United
Parcel Service Inc., FedEx Corp. and a few other companies have
similar agreements with the quasigovernmental agency.
The package business has helped bolster the Postal Service's
financial strength, according to officials, and the Postal Service
is mandated by Congress to charge enough to cover its costs. But
some critics have said officials have priced this type of delivery
option too low, effectively cross subsidizing package delivery with
its mandate to delivery mail to U.S. addresses.
White House aides have debated internally what could be driving
the president's criticism of Amazon, with theories including the
Washington Post's coverage of the administration and the effect the
company has had on Trump associates' businesses, according to an
administration official.
While the motivation remains unclear, aides have noted that the
president's tweets on the subject have put the White House on the
offensive, rather than defending itself against stories including
allegations by former adult-film star Stormy Daniels and other
women.
--Rebecca Ballhaus contributed to this article.
Write to Peter Nicholas at peter.nicholas@wsj.com and Laura
Stevens at laura.stevens@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 03, 2018 13:20 ET (17:20 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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