Trump, in tweet, hits Amazon over taxes, jobs

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday criticized Amazon.com on Twitter over taxes and jobs and accused the global retailer, without offering evidence, of hurting U.S. localities and causing job losses.

Shares of the company fell 0.3 percent to $980.00 in premarket trade after Trump's comments.

Representatives for the company could not be immediately reached for comment

"Amazon is doing great damage to tax paying retailers. Towns, cities and states throughout the U.S. are being hurt - many jobs being lost!" Trump wrote.

Trump has repeatedly targeted Amazon.com, whose CEO Jeff Bezos ?owns the Washington Post, one of several major media outlets that have been swept up in the president's ongoing fight
with the press.

"The #AmazonWashingtonPost, sometimes referred to as the guardian of Amazon not paying internet taxes (which they should) is FAKE NEWS!" Trump wrote in a post on Twitter on June 28, one of several posts critical of Amazon since late 2015.

His tweet on Wednesday came as a reporter for the Washington Post appeared on CNN's "New Day" program discussing criticism of Trump's comments in the wake of weekend violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

 

On Tuesday, Trump inflamed tensions over a deadly rally by white nationalists in the town by insisting that counter protesters were also to blame, drawing condemnation from some Republican leaders and praise from white supremacists.

Amazon.com has said that it has more than 50,000 job openings across the United States to help fulfill customer orders and recently hosted multiple job fairs to fill them.

The e-commerce company does collect state sales taxes in Washington, D.C., and 45 U.S. states that have such a levy, the company said on its website.

Still, Amazon's growth has upended the U.S. retail market with its rapidly expanding reach. Its decision in June to buy premium grocer Whole Foods has signaled its move into other sectors and has also raised some questions about jobs.

 

 

 REUTERS