President Trump reportedly wants to 'go after' Amazon by changing its tax treatment 12:08 PM ET Wed, 28 March 2018 | 01:00 
 
 President Donald Trump is not a fan of Amazon. 
 
 Axios is reporting that Trump wants to "go after" the e-commerce giant, citing five sources who have talked about Amazon with him. 
 
 "He's obsessed with Amazon," one source told the media outlet. "Obsessed." 
 
 Trump has discussed altering the company's tax treatment because several of his friends told him Amazon is hurting their businesses and "killing shopping malls and brick-and-mortar retailers," according to Axios. 
 
 Amazon shares fell 4.4 percent Wednesday after the report, wiping out more than $31 billion in shareholder value. 
 
 "We have no announcements and no specific policies or actions that we're currently pushing forward [now on Amazon]," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Wednesday on the report. 
 
 Trump has blasted Amazon on social media in the past, saying the e-commerce company is hurting the retail industry and causing U.S. job losses. 
 
 "Amazon is doing great damage to tax paying retailers. Towns, cities and states throughout the U.S. are being hurt - many jobs being lost!," he posted on Twitter in August. 
 
 Trump also repeatedly bashed the "Amazon Washington Post" on Twitter. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post. 
 
 Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin hinted in July the administration may soon take "a position" on Amazon's tax collection policy. 
 
 At a Senate hearing on July 26, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., asked the Treasury secretary about his view on internet state sales taxes. 
 
 "So this is an issue that we've been looking at very carefully within the administration, and we expect to come out with a position shortly," Mnuchin said. "I am encouraged that Amazon is now charging tax, I believe, on their own sales but not the marketplace. I'm not sure I understand the consistency on that, but I respect the states' ability that there's an awful lot of money that's not being collected." 
 
 Mnuchin was referring to e-commerce giant's "third-party" marketplace, where other firms sell goods on Amazon's website. In its "first-party" business, the internet company sell products directly to customers. 
 
 More recently, Mnuchin told the House Ways and Means Committee hearing in February that the administration "feels strongly" the government should institute a sales tax on internet e-commerce. 
 
 But there hasn't been much follow-up beyond these statements on the Amazon's tax treatment. 
 
 Some states — like Washington, Minnesota and Rhode Island — have passed laws requiring online marketplaces to collect sales taxes on behalf of its "third-party" sellers. 
 
 Amazon declined to comment. 
 
 Read the full Axios story here. 
 
 
 
 ||||| Tweet with a location 
 
 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| A source who’s spoken to POTUS: “He’s wondered aloud if there may be any way to go after Amazon with antitrust or competition law." 
 
 who’s spoken to POTUS: “He’s wondered aloud if there may be any way to go after Amazon with antitrust or competition law." Trump’s deep-seated antipathy toward Amazon surfaces when discussing tax policy and antitrust cases. The president would love to clip CEO Jeff Bezos’ wings. But he doesn’t have a plan to make that happen. 
 
 Behind the president's thinking: Trump's wealthy friends tell him Amazon is destroying their businesses. His real estate buddies tell him — and he agrees — that Amazon is killing shopping malls and brick-and-mortar retailers. 
 
 Trump tells people Amazon has gotten a free ride from taxpayers and cushy treatment from the U.S. Postal Service. 
 
 Amazon has gotten a free ride from taxpayers and cushy treatment from the U.S. Postal Service. “The whole post office thing, that's very much a perception he has,” another source said. “It's been explained to him in multiple meetings that his perception is inaccurate and that the post office actually makes a ton of money from Amazon." 
 
 that's very much a perception he has,” another source said. “It's been explained to him in multiple meetings that his perception is inaccurate and that the post office actually makes a ton of money from Amazon." Axios' Ina Fried notes: The Postal Service actually added delivery on Sunday in some cities because Amazon made it worthwhile. 
 
 The Postal Service actually added delivery on Sunday in some cities because Amazon made it worthwhile. Trump also pays close attention to the Amazon founder's ownership of The Washington Post, which the president views as Bezos’ political weapon. 
 
 Trump never talks about Mark Zuckerberg or Facebook: He isn’t tuned in to the debate over how they handle people’s data, and thinks the Russia story is a hoax, sources say. 
 
 Axios' Kim Hart points out: "Trump told Axios last year he doesn’t mind Facebook because it helps him reach his audience. He's an old-school businessman who sees the world in terms of tangible assets: real estate, physical mail delivery, Main Street, grocery stores. It reminds me of the story Jim wrote a while back about Trump’s fixation with 1950s life. Amazon takes direct aim at some of the core components of mid-century business.” 
 
 One warning sign for Facebook: Vice President Mike Pence is concerned about Facebook and Google, according to a source with direct knowledge. 
 
 Though Pence isn't yet pushing internally for any specific regulations, he argues these companies are dangerously powerful. 
 
 isn't yet pushing internally for any specific regulations, he argues these companies are dangerously powerful. The source said the V.P. worries about their influence on media coverage, as well as their control of the advertising industry and users’ personal info. 
 
 the V.P. worries about their influence on media coverage, as well as their control of the advertising industry and users’ personal info. When private discussions have turned to the idea of busting Facebook and Google, Pence has listened with keen interest and is open to the suggestion that these two companies need shaking up. 
 
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– "He's obsessed with Amazon," a source says of President Trump. "Obsessed." While Congress deals with the fallout from Facebook's Cambridge Analytica fiasco, five sources tell Axios the president remains focused instead on another tech giant. Sources say Trump's friends, particularly in real estate, are complaining to him about Amazon hurting their businesses by replacing malls and other physical retail locations. Kim Hart at Axios says Trump has a "fixation with 1950s life" and "Amazon takes direct aim at some of the core components of mid-century business." "Amazon is doing great damage to tax paying retailers," Trump tweeted in August. "Towns, cities and states throughout the U.S. are being hurt - many jobs being lost!" It also doesn't help that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post. Sources tell Axios that Trump wants to target Amazon. “He’s wondered aloud if there may be any way to go after Amazon with antitrust or competition law," one source says. He may also look at how it pays taxes. After the Axios story was published Wednesday, Amazon stock dropped 6.4% and lost $46.6 billion in value, the Los Angeles Times. According to CNBC, it later rebounded a bit—down 4.6% and more than $33 billion—as of this story's publishing. On the other hand, sources say Trump never mentions Mark Zuckerberg or Facebook and hasn't been following the Cambridge Analytica scandal. "He doesn’t mind Facebook because it helps him reach his audience," Hart says.