Trump says talk with Jeff Bezos changed Amazon policy on tariffs

President Donald Trump defended his tariff policy in an interview with NBC News on Sunday, saying that he would reach out to CEOs like Jeff Bezos if he has disagreements over their response to tariffs or other issues. 

“Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker asked Trump about a call that he had with Bezos “in response to a report that Amazon was going to display tariff costs next to product prices.” 

“Are you going to punish CEOs who increase their prices because of tariffs?” Welker asked, later pushing Trump to answer if he would pursue similar tactics with other business leaders. 

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“What did you say to Jeff Bezos?” Welker asked Trump.

“He’s just a very nice guy,” Trump said of the billionaire founder of Amazon. “We have a relationship. I asked him about it. He said, ‘Well, I don’t want to do that,’ and he took it off immediately.”       

“So he changed course. And will you take that same tactic with other CEOs?” Welker followed up.

“Sure,” Trump responded. “I’ll always call people if I disagree with them.”

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When further pressed by Welker on calling CEOs directly, Trump said he would not hesitate to call a business leader if he has a disagreement. 

“If I think that somebody’s doing something that’s incorrect, wrong, or maybe hurtful to the country, I’ll call,” Trump said. “Wouldn’t you want me to call? [Joe] Biden wouldn’t call because he didn’t know what was happening, but I do.” 

Amazon last week denied a report that the e-commerce giant would soon display how much the tariffs will add to the cost of each item for sale on its site after the White House called the potential move a “hostile and political act.”

“The team that runs our ultra low cost Amazon Haul store considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products,” an Amazon spokesperson told Fox Business last week. “This was never approved and is not going to happen.”

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Trump continued to defend his tariff policy in the interview, saying that he views tariffs not as a “tax” but as an “incentive” to encourage “people to come into the United States and build plants, factories, offices, a lot of things.” 

“But what people don’t understand is, and this is a lot, the country eats the tariff,” the president said. “The company eats the tariff. And it’s not passed along at all [to consumers].”