Trump: Amazon Does 'Great Damage' to Retailers

President Donald Trump on Wednesday, once again, took aim at Amazon.

In a tweet, the president said "Amazon is doing great damage to tax paying retailers. Towns, cities and states throughout the U.S. are being hurt - many jobs being lost!" He did not give any further explanation.

This isn't the first time Trump has targeted the online retail giant, whose CEO Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post, which the president has called "a big tax shelter" for Amazon.

If @amazon ever had to pay fair taxes, its stock would crash and it would crumble like a paper bag. The @washingtonpost scam is saving it! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2015

Amazon did not immediately respond to PCMag's request for comment.

Despite Trump's claims, Amazon says it collects state sales taxes in 45 US states and Washington, D.C. On the topic of jobs, Amazon is one of the country's biggest employers with 180,000 US employees as of last year, up from 30,000 people in 2011.

Amazon in January pledged to create more than 100,000 new jobs across the US by mid-2018. The positions will be full time with benefits like health insurance, disability insurance, retirement savings plans, and company stock. When it's all said and done, that initiative will grow Amazon's US-based workforce to more than 280,000.

'Thank You, All!'

Meanwhile, Trump also today tweeted that he's ending two of his CEO councils. "Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople of the Manufacturing Council & Strategy & Policy Forum, I am ending both. Thank you all!" Trump tweeted today.

That, however, came after reports that CEOs on his Strategic and Policy Forum had gathered on a call earlier today and decided to "abandon the group altogether" in response to Trump's inflammatory Tuesday statements on white supremacists, the New York Times reports. The council previously included Elon Musk and Travis Kalanick, both of whom quit earlier this year over climate change and the travel ban, respectively.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich exited the Manufacturing Council this week, also over Trump's response to Charlottesville. The CEOs of Merck and Under Armour did the same.

Just yesterday, Trump tweeted that "For every CEO that drops out of the Manufacturing Council, I have many to take their place."

About Our Expert

Angela Moscaritolo

Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

My Experience

I'm PCMag's managing editor for consumer electronics, overseeing an experienced team of analysts covering smart home, home entertainment, wearables, fitness and health tech, and various other product categories. I have been with PCMag for more than 10 years, and in that time have written more than 6,000 articles and reviews for the site. I previously served as an analyst focused on smart home and wearable devices, and before that I was a reporter covering consumer tech news. I'm also a yoga instructor, and have been actively teaching group and private classes for nearly a decade.

Prior to joining PCMag, I was a reporter for SC Magazine, focusing on hackers and computer security. I earned a BS in journalism from West Virginia University, and started my career writing for newspapers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

The Technology I Use

My little Florida beach bungalow is brimming with smart home tech. I have a smart speaker or display in every room, allowing me to control other connected devices by voice. The Nest Hub on my bedside table lets me set wake-up alarms, control my smart light bulbs, and set the temperature on my smart thermostat. I use the Amazon Echo Show 8 on my kitchen counter to browse recipes, reorder protein powder, check the weather, and watch the news while I do dishes.

Because I suffer from allergies, air purifiers are essential. My favorite model is the Dyson Purifier Cool TP07, which doubles as a fan and continuously sends indoor pollution data to its companion mobile app.

My pitbull Bradley sheds, so a good robot vacuum is a must. I currently use a premium Ecovacs Deebot that can both vacuum and mop, empty its own dustbin, and wash its own mop cloth.

For fitness, I like to mix up my routine with cycling, indoor rowing, running, and strength training in addition to yoga. I take classes on the Tonal 2 smart strength training machine, I row indoors on an Aviron machine, and track my beach runs with an Apple Watch while listening to music on my Apple AirPods Pro. On the weekends, I love riding e-bikes like the rugged, beach-friendly Aventon Aventure for fun and fitness.

My job involves a lot of virtual meetings, so a quality webcam, microphone, and ring light are important. I use the Jabra PanaCast 20 webcam, the Elgato Wave: 3 microphone, and a Yesker tripod ring light.

As for my preferred phone platform, I'm an iPhone person, but I've also extensively used Android for product testing.

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