Trump says Amazon 'destroying' shopping malls, hollowing out towns
Amazon is "destroying" U.S. shopping malls and hollowing out towns, President Trump told former White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Thursday.
"Amazon is destroying all these shopping malls and shopping centers, where you have a lot of workers," the president said during an interview on Newsmax's "Spicer&Co." "They have a big tax advantage over someone [who is] paying rent, and has a store, and is employing a lot of people"
Amazon did not immediately respond for comment.
The tech giant reached a $1 trillion market cap in January, after Apple and Microsoft hit that benchmark.
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Trump's mention of a "big tax advantage" is likely in reference to his own 2017 Tax Cuts & Jobs Act, which lowered the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent while also allowing companies to keep tax breaks that allow them to zero-out what they owe.
The law was criticized because it allowed corporate giants like Amazon to pay $0 in federal taxes in 2017 and 2018, and very few in taxes in 2019. Others have argued the same law created tax cuts for the middle class that benefited families and small businesses.
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But Amazon has a strong foothold in the U.S. retail industry as skyrocketing demand in e-commerce leads to what has become known as the "retail apocalypse," or the steady decline of U.S. shopping malls and business districts where people buy things in person.
A woman walks into a closing Gordmans store, Thursday, May 28, 2020, in St. Charles, Mo. Stage Stores, which owns Gordmans, is closing all its stores and has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
It has also extended its arm into other industries like entertainment, food and smart-home services with Amazon Prime, Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh, Amazon Echo and Ring, among others. The company could reach an employee headcount of 1 million this year.
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"You talk about antitrust," Trump said. "There's tremendous damage. And the jobs that are being lost and other things. But you look at towns and cities and shopping centers ... They're empty. They're dead."
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is pushing the Justice Department to open an antitrust probe into Amazon after a Wall Street Journal report detailed the company's use of third-party seller data to develop its own products, which Amazon denied.
