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Donald Trump attacks Amazon again, retailer’s stock falls nearly 5%

A portion of the sign advertising Amazon Go is seen outside the grocery store's location on June 16, 2017 in Seattle, Washington. David Ryder/Getty Images. David Ryder / Getty Images

WASHINGTON – U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday blasted Amazon.com Inc with a list of complaints, a day after news website Axios reported that Trump wants to curb the mega retailer’s growing power using federal antitrust laws and led its shares to fall almost 5 per cent.

“I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!” Trump said in a post on Twitter early on Thursday.

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Amazon founder and chairman, Jeff Bezos, also privately owns the Washington Post, which won a Pulitzer Prize last year for its investigation of Trump’s donations to charities. The probe found that many of Trump’s philanthropic claims were exaggerated and often were not charitable donations.

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READ MORE: Toronto start-ups fearful of potential Amazon HQ2

Still, White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah shot down the notion that Trump’s criticism was part of a personal grudge.

“A lot of people have made this, with respect to Amazon, about personalities and the CEO at Amazon – we’re talking about Jeff Bezos here,” he said on Thursday on the Fox News Channel. “It’s really about policy.”

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Click to play video: 'Amazon quashes rumours of Toronto making next cut for HQ2'
Amazon quashes rumours of Toronto making next cut for HQ2

Shah reiterated that Trump was not making specific policy changes.

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“There are a number of proposals that have worked their ways through the House and the Senate or have been considered by the House and the Senate. He’d be supportive of such efforts,” he said.

Trump’s claims about Amazon’s state and local tax payments have been met with skepticism. While the company was once criticized for attempting to skirt state sales taxes, it currently has a reputation as a leader in collecting the levies, which can vary from state to state.

READ MORE: Amazon cuts jobs in Seattle as search for HQ2 location continues

Legally pursuing Amazon could affect more than its share price, which was largely steady after Trump’s tweet. Amazon is currently in the process of establishing a $5 billion second headquarters which could bring 50,000 new jobs to the location it selects. In January, it winnowed the list of possible locations down to 20 metropolitan areas.

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Trudeau vague on how much Canada would offer for Amazon HQ in Toronto

Apart from nationwide goods deliveries, Amazon’s services include video streaming, a digital home assistant known as Alexa, and an online payments program.

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