Getty / David Ryder
- President Donald Trump tweeted Thursday that Amazon was causing 'tremendous loss' to the Post Office.
- Package delivery is actually one of the few areas of growth for the USPS.
- Shares of Amazon fell about 2% after the tweet. You can track the stock price in real-time here>>
Shares of Amazon declined about 2.1% in early trading Thursday after President Donald Trump tweeted the e-commerce giant was putting "thousands" of retailers out of business and hurting the Postal Service.
"I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election," he said early Thursday. "Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!"
Shares are set to open down roughly 1%, near $1,418, Thursday.
Trump's tweet comes a day after Axios' Dan Primack reported the President is "obsessed" with Amazon, and is eyeing legal means to go after the company. According to Axios' unnamed source, Trump is considering a change to Amazon's tax status or a crackdown through anti-trust rules.
It's not clear how much revenue the Postal Service generates from shipping Amazon packages, but parcel delivery is actually one of the few areas of growth for the money-losing public-private agency.
Numbers crunched by Vox in December - the last time Trump tweeted about Amazon - show parcel revenue increased $2.1 billion during fiscal 2017 for the Postal Service. Still, the post office is a money-losing business, posting a net loss of $2.7 billion last year.
The White House told reporters on Thursday that the president currently does not have a plan to make changes as it comes to Amazon, but is consistently attempting to find ways to "level the playing field" for businesses in the US.
Shares of Amazon are up just over 20% since the beginning of 2018.