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W<\/span>ashington Post –\u00a0<\/strong>President Trump has personally pushed U.S. Postmaster General Megan Brennan to double the rate the Postal Service charges Amazon.com and other firms to ship packages, according to three people familiar with their conversations, a dramatic move that probably would cost these companies billions of dollars.<\/p>\n Brennan has so far resisted Trump\u2019s demand, explaining in multiple conversations occurring this year and last that these arrangements are bound by contracts and must be reviewed by a regulatory commission, the three people said. She has told the president that the Amazon relationship is beneficial for the Postal Service and gave him a set of slides that showed the variety of companies, in addition to Amazon, that also partners for deliveries.<\/p>\n Despite these presentations, Trump has continued to level criticism at Amazon. And last month, his critiques culminated in the signing of an executive order mandating a government review of the financially strapped Postal Service that could lead to major changes in the way it charges Amazon and others for package delivery.<\/p>\n Few U.S. companies have drawn Trump\u2019s ire as much as Amazon, which has rapidly grown to be the second-largest U.S. company in terms of market capitalization. For more than three years, Trump has fumed publicly and privately about the giant commerce and services company and its founder Jeffrey P. Bezos, who is also the owner of The Washington Post.<\/p>\n Trump alleges that Amazon is being subsidized by the Postal Service. He has also accused The Post of being Amazon\u2019s \u201cchief lobbyist\u201d as well as a tax shelter \u2014 false charges. He says Amazon uses these advantages to push bricks-and-mortar companies out of business. Some administration officials say several of Trump\u2019s attacks aimed at Amazon have come in response to articles in The Post that he didn\u2019t like.<\/p>\n The three people familiar with these exchanges spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the White House\u2019s internal deliberations.<\/p>\n Brennan and Trump have met at the White House about the matter several times, beginning in 2017, and most recently four months ago, the three people said. The meetings have never appeared on Trump\u2019s public schedule. Brennan has spent her career at the Postal Service, starting 32 years ago as a letter carrier. In 2014, the Postal Service\u2019s Board of Governors voted to appoint her as postmaster general.<\/p>\n Clouding the matter even further, Trump\u2019s aides have also disagreed internally about whether Amazon is paying enough to the Postal Service, with some believing the giant commerce company should be paying more, while others believe that if it weren\u2019t for Amazon, the Postal Service might be out of business, according to the three people.<\/p>\n Trump has met with at least three groups of senior advisers to discuss Amazon\u2019s business practices, probing issues such as whether they pay the appropriate amount of taxes or underpay the Postal Service, according to the three people.<\/p>\n These groups include Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, then-National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn and Domestic Policy Council Director Andrew Bremberg. Bremberg has served as a key liaison with Brennan.<\/p>\n One of Amazon\u2019s biggest defenders within the White House was Cohn, who had told Trump that the Postal Service actually made money on the payments Amazon made for package delivery. Cohn announced his departure from the White House in March.<\/p>\n The White House, the Postal Service and Amazon \u2014 as well as Bezos, via an Amazon spokesman \u2014 declined to comment for this report.<\/p>\n While Trump has leveled a variety of criticisms at Amazon, his efforts to increase the company\u2019s shipping and delivery costs stand as the only known official action he\u2019s taken to go after the company.<\/p>\n The company, meanwhile, has tread carefully around Trump. It has dramatically expanded its spending on lobbying in the past few years, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, but Amazon officials have not been directly engaged with White House officials about the review, according to the three people familiar with the White House deliberations as well as others familiar with Amazon\u2019s approach.<\/p>\n The company has, however, hosted more than a dozen lawmakers and governors at numerous Amazon facilities across the country to impress upon them the company\u2019s economic footprint and job creation potential.<\/p>\n On March 7, when the company announced that it would be building a new fulfillment center in Missouri and hiring 1,500 employees, it alerted the state\u2019s two U.S. senators on Twitter, Democrat Claire McCaskill and Republican Roy Blunt.<\/p>\n Trump has berated Amazon and The Post on social media, briefly driving down Amazon\u2019s stock price. And he has said publicly that he doesn\u2019t believe the information he has been presented by some of his advisers and Brennan herself regarding the Postal Service\u2019s contract with Amazon.<\/p>\n \u201cI am right about Amazon costing the United States Post Office massive amounts of money for being their Delivery Boy,\u201d he tweeted on April 3. \u201cAmazon should pay these costs (plus) and not have them bourne by the American Taxpayer. Many billions of dollars. P.O. leaders don\u2019t have a clue (or do they?)!\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Boeing-767-Amazon-Prime-1-300x188.jpg\")
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