In a White House press briefing last month, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt berated a reporter who asked her if she’d ever paid a tariff, criticizing the White House’s constant messaging that President Donald Trump’s trade war wouldn’t cost American consumers.
“Tariffs are a tax hike on foreign countries that, again, have been ripping us off. Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people, and the President is a staunch advocate of tax cuts,” Leavitt said.
“I’m sorry, have you ever paid a tariff?” the reporter asked. “They don’t get charged on foreign companies. They get charged on the importers.”
While Leavitt didn’t answer if she’d ever paid one, she’s now extremely upset that people are about to see just what tariffs are going to cost them.
Today, Punchbowl News reported Amazon would begin to add a line item on sales that showed just how much Trump’s tariffs were adding to the final cost.
“The shopping site,” Punchbowl reported, according to a source, “will display how much of an item’s cost is derived from tariffs—right next to the product total listed price.”
After an Amazon tariff tax report, the White House wasn’t pleased
In a press conference just hours after the news broke, Leavitt seethed at the tech giant when asked if it was “clear evidence” consumers would pay a price.
“This is a hostile and political act by Amazon. Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years?” she said.
Leavitt didn’t answer whether it was proof she’d been misleading, instead going on to note that Amazon had “recently partnered with a Chinese propaganda arm,” an assertion that seems to be based on a report in 2021.
According to a Washington Post reporter, Amazon denied the story, saying it was never under consideration for its main site. It noted that Amazon Haul, its budget-friendly Temu competitor had considered it.
Temu shoppers show off ‘import charges’
Although Amazon hasn’t implemented the tariff line item on sales, Temu shoppers are reporting seeing “import charges” in their shopping carts.
And they aren’t happy.
“11 shorts now have a $16 import charge,” warned a user. “Rich people were not buying shorts on Temu, these tariffs are directly hitting middle class Americans.”
Others reported seeing a similar 150% charge in their orders.
And while most Americans were probably well aware that massive corporations wouldn’t eat the cost of tariffs out of a benevolence for the consumer, seeing the numbers while actually ordering shows just how much Trump has been misleading voters on the matter.
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