Donald Trump targets Amazon as part of demand for ‘dumb’ US post office to raise prices

US President Donald Trump reignited his long-running feud with Amazon on Friday while simultaneously calling for the US Postal Service (USPS) to raise its prices.

Trump, who has criticised the retail giant in the past, invoked Amazon parcels as an example of the costs placed on the USPS.

“Why is the United States Post Office, which is losing many billions of dollars a year, while charging Amazon and others so little to deliver their packages, making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer? Should be charging MUCH MORE!” Trump wrote on Twitter.

The USPS, which runs at a significant loss, is an independent agency within the federal government and does not receive tax dollars for operating expenses, according to its website.

The organisation makes up a significant portion of the US$1.4 trillion US delivery industry. Other players include private companies such as the United Parcel Service (UPS) and FedEx.

Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos, who remains the chief executive officer of the retail company. Bezos also owns The Washington Post, a newspaper that Trump has repeatedly railed against in his criticisms of the news media.

In tweets over the past year, Trump has said the “Amazon Washington Post” fabricated stories, and has complained that Amazon does not pay a fair amount of taxes, in doing so hurting other retailers.

This comes as part of a pattern by the former businessman of periodically turning his ire on big American companies since taking office in January.