The White House criticized Jeff Bezos after the billionaire founder of Amazon accused President Joe Biden of not understanding why gas prices are high.
Biden sent out a tweet on Saturday suggesting that gas sellers are taking advantage of the war in Ukraine by setting gas prices unnecessarily high.
“My message to the companies that run gas stations and set prices at the pump is simple: this is a time of war and global danger,” Biden said. “Reduce the price you charge at the pump to reflect the price you pay for the product. And do it now.”
Bezos responded critically to the president, writing in a retweet: “Oh. Inflation is too important an issue for the White House to continue making statements like this. This is either outright misdirection or a profound misunderstanding of underlying market dynamics.”
But White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre doubled down on Biden’s statements.
“Oil prices have fallen by about $15 in the last month, but pump prices have barely budged. This is not a “major market dynamic”. This is a market that is failing the American consumer,” she tweeted.
She also went a step further and criticized Bezos directly: “But I guess it’s no surprise that you think oil and gas companies using market power to make record profits at the expense of the American people is how our economy must work.’
Another White House official also came out in defense of the president. John Kirby, the National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications, said on Fox News Sunday that Bezos was wrong and that Biden was “saying exactly what he thinks in terms that anyone can understand.”
Biden blamed Russia’s war in Ukraine and oil and gas companies for record US inflation and high energy costs.
Last month, the president criticized Exxon Mobil for making “more money than God this year” while Americans pay record high prices at the pump. He also met with oil company executives to encourage them to do more to lower gas prices.
Bezos has repeatedly clashed with the White House over inflation. In May, after Biden said that making sure corporations pay their fair share of taxes could fight inflation, Bezos also called it “misdirection.”
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