Bezos fires back at Navarro over claims he has dodged meeting
Amazon employees called 'minions,' CEO said
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos took to social media on Thursday in what appears to be a response to White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, who has claimed that the high-power executive has refused to meet with the administration.
In a post on Instagram, Bezos indicated that someone he didn’t know approached him in front of his father and his girlfriend at a “big cocktail party” to ask for a meeting. The person in question allegedly referred to Amazon employees as “minions,” according to Bezos.
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Bezos poses the situation as a hypothetical scenario, asking his followers how they would respond.
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In an interview with The Hill, Navarro said Bezos has pushed him off after he sought a meeting about the spread of counterfeit items on the e-commerce site.
"Bezos is the one guy on high who can quickly fix this problem at Amazon, the market leader," Navarro told the publication. "So this meeting between Bezos and the White House ... it’s not trivial, it can be pivotal in the fight to protect American consumers and workers."
In response to Bezos' post, Navarro told The Hill "simply meeting with a White House representative to discuss a very serious issue" would be much more constructive.
A spokesperson for Amazon told FOX Business that senior executives from Amazon have met with administration officials, including Navarro, on multiple occasions to discuss combating counterfeit goods.
“We are eager to continue this collaboration and will make our executives available to meet as often as necessary to effectively address this issue,” the spokesperson said.
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As previously reported by FOX Business, Amazon is implementing stricter policies against individuals who sell fakes on its site.
Trade-in counterfeit and pirated goods represented 3.3 percent of global trade as of March of last year, according to a report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The value of imported fake goods worldwide is estimated at around $509 billion.
Navarro did not immediately respond to FOX Business' request for comment.