SEATTLE — Local shoppers shared their reactions Tuesday after Amazon said it won’t let people know how much tariffs are adding to their costs after President Trump spoke to Amazon’s billionaire founder.
Amazon insists no decision had been made to alert consumers why prices on its new, low-cost Haul service are going up. But that came after President Trump said he spoke to Jeff Bezos and he “did the right thing.”
Some shoppers liked the idea of knowing why prices are higher. They call it transparency. They say they need more of that wherever they shop.
“As long as they’re honest about why the price is increasing,” said one Kirkland shopper. “I think it’s a great idea.”
“I thought it was a very good idea because that’s just expressing the truth of the situation,” Richard Escobedo, a retired mathematician from Bellevue.
That may be, but the plan -- and Amazon insists it was never the plan -- didn’t last after President Trump said he spoke to the tech giant’s founder.
“Jeff Bezos was very nice,” Trump said. “He was terrific. He solved the problem very quickly. And he did the right thing. He’s a good guy.”
Washington State Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal immediately spoke out.
“What we saw with this whole Amazon debacle is that Amazon caved the minute Donald Trump said that he didn’t like the policy,” said Rep. Jayapal, (D) Bellevue.
“I think it was a ‘walk-back,’” said Valerie Ross.
One West Seattle shopper says business shouldn’t be conducted that way. “We live in the United States,” said Ross. “We have a free press. Corporations should allowed to make changes even if it reflects poorly on the decision-making of our government.”
Other business owners KIRO 7 talked to, off-camera, said a lot of what their customers are used to buying simply won’t be in their stores because the tariffs make them unaffordable.
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