Amazon has "destroyed the retail sector," so the United States should review its practices, Sec. Mnuchin says

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the Department of Justice was right to review Amazon's practices as part of its antitrust review of large technology companies.

"I think if you look at Amazon, even if it has some benefits, it has destroyed the retail sector across the United States, so it's undeniable that competition is reduced," said Mnuchin. at Squawk Box, CNBC, Wednesday.

"I think it's very good that the Attorney General is looking into the matter.I think this is an important issue and I look forward to it reporting to the President and that He listens to his recommendations, "said Mnuchin.

The US Department of Justice announced on Tuesday that it was opening a major antitrust review of major technology companies, bringing down Amazon's stock, Alphabet, and Facebook outside of office hours. The DOJ stated that it was examining how large online platforms have "achieved market power" and how their practices have "reduced competition, curbed innovation or otherwise harmed consumers. "

Amazon's shares posted Wednesday a decline of more than 1% of their market value before commercialization.

"There are areas where [Amazon] really hurt small businesses, "said Mnuchin.

Comparing Amazon to the Walmart big box retailer, Mnuchin said that the competitive practices of both companies are both similar and different.

"People were worried about Walmart, Walmart has developed a business in which small businesses could continue to compete with them," said Mnuchin.

Mnuchin said it was difficult to group the so-called FANG stocks with respect to competitive practices.

"I do not think you can talk about competition between all these companies in the same way," said Mnuchin. "People talk about FANG shares as if they were all identical, and every company is very different."