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President Donald Trump resumed his public campaign against the Washington Post on Monday, calling the newspaper "expensive lobbyist" for Amazon.com Inc., which shares billionaire Jeff Bezos as owner.
Trump has already argued that the online retailer has a "huge antitrust" problem. His administration could theoretically act against Amazon through antitrust, USPS, consumer protection probes or even a push against their government contract deals.
Amazon dropped up to 2.4 percent after Trump's tweet, before recovering some of that loss. Shares are down 0.7% to $ 1,800.25 at 10:26 am in New York.
Trump's maneuver against the Washington Post follows an article in the newspaper Sunday that talks with North Korea on the elimination of its nuclear program. Shortly before criticizing the post, the president tweeted that "all of Asia is satisfied" with these advances and noted that North Korea has not conducted ballistic missiles or nuclear tests since months.
always ask me (still anonymous sources), that I'm angry because it's not going fast enough, "said Trump." False, very happy! "
Fifteen minutes later he starts to tweeter on Amazon
"Gone Crazy"
"The Amazon Washington Post has gone mad against me since they lost the Internet Tax Case in the [19659012] United States Court supreme two months ago. Then, it's the US post office that they use, at a fraction of the actual cost, as their "delivery person" for a large percentage of their packages, "said Trump in a Twitter post [19659012]. involved in the Supreme Court case, which pitted South Dakota against three small online retailers. The court voted 5-4 to let the state and local governments require online retailers to collect sales taxes from customers, even if the shopkeeper does not have a store or business. warehouse in the state.
States with a sales tax, but only when selling products of his own inventory. About half of its sales involve goods belonging to millions of third-party merchants, many of whom do not collect taxes.
Trump followed the tweet a few minutes later: "In my opinion, the Washington Post is nothing more than one. The lobbyist dear to Amazon (the newspaper loses a fortune) is it being used as protection against antitrust claims that many believe should be brought? "
Brad Parscale, the leader of Trump's reelection campaign in 2020, also reportedly complained of
Traditional Independence
The traditional independence and slow investigations of the Department of Justice or of The Federal Trade Commission could limit Trump's ability to impose antitrust penalties on the company.
Amazon spent $ 3.47 million on lobbying. The second quarter of 2018, a quarterly company record, according to Friday's filings with the government.
Trump repeatedly attacked Amazon, the Post and its owner, Amazon Chief E Executive Officer Bezos .In April, after several attacks against the giant of online sales, Trump has established a working group to review the postal service's business practices Amazon regularly uses the postal service to complete what is known as the "last mile" e of the delivery.
Trump has often said that the postal service loses money because of Amazon. The service, legally prohibited from charging shippers less than its delivery costs, disputes the claim.
Amazon has been the subject of close scrutiny among a younger generation of antitrust activists, who argue that the current antitrust enforcement framework is ill-equipped to attack Amazon's domination and the potential harm it poses to competition.
One of the architects of the argument, Lina Khan of the think tank of the Open Markets Institute, will join the office of the Federal Trade Commissioner Rohit Chopra. the administration opens an antitrust investigation, the forces of order should show that the company has a monopoly on a market and that it has abused its dominant position. But the forces of order are focused on consumers and Amazon's retail platform is appreciated by its customers for its breadth and convenience.
A spokeswoman for Amazon, Jodi Seth, declined to comment on the tweets on Monday.
– With the help of Greg Stohr
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