On the morning of May 17, Beijing time, it was reported that on Monday, local time, the White House hit back at Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, because the former world's richest man attacked President Joe Biden's comments on inflation in a series of tweets last weekend**
"Those companies that were the wealthiest to pay for inflation on twitter at the time," Biden said, "were the ones that we wanted to pay the most on Friday." But Biden did not directly mention Amazon in this tweet.
Bezos then responded to Biden's tweets, accusing his remarks of being "misleading" and that there was no link between inflation and corporate tax. "Raising corporate taxes is something that can be discussed. Curbing inflation is the key to the discussion. Confusing them is misleading," Bezos wrote In April, consumer inflation grew at a higher than expected rate of 8.3%, exceeding the Dow Jones estimate of 8.1%, close to the highest level in more than 40 years.
On Sunday, Bezos further criticized the Biden administration's handling of inflation in a tweet. He said the $1.9 trillion U.S. rescue plan signed into law by Biden last March contributed to the surge in inflation. Bezos also asserts that inflation is the most harmful to the poor.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates responded in a statement: "it doesn't take much effort to understand why Bezos, the world's second richest man, opposed Biden's proposal to raise taxes on the super rich and businesses." Bates also said in the statement: "it is not surprising that the president sent this tweet after meeting with labor organizers, including Amazon employees."
Later, Bezos responded to the White House statement with a tweet, accusing the Biden administration of trying to "confuse this topic". "They know that inflation hurts the most people who need help most. But inflation is not caused by trade unions or the rich," Bezos wrote
Earlier this month, Biden appeared at a meeting with labor organizers, including Chris smalls, chairman of Amazon trade union. This grass-roots organization was successfully established in Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, New York, in April, marking the establishment of the first trade union of the e-commerce company in the United States.
The quarrel on twitter was also the first public conflict between Bezos and Biden. During the tenure of former president Donald Trump, Bezos often had friction between the two sides. Trump criticized Amazon for using the US postal service and lied that Bezos owned the Washington Post was a "lobbyist" for the online retail giant.
Although Biden did not specifically name Amazon in his tweet on Friday, he has repeatedly criticized the company's tax history. Amazon benefited a lot from tax credits and exemptions. The company did not pay federal income tax in 2017 and 2018. Bezos, who stepped down as CEO of Amazon last year, has also become a target repeatedly mentioned by Democrats when discussing wealth inequality in the United States in view of his huge wealth.
Biden also recently expressed support for Amazon's trade union work. In a speech at a national conference of trade unions, he seemed to be trying to promote the organization of Amazon warehouse. He said: "the choice to join the trade union belongs only to the workers. By the way, Amazon, here we are."