Amazon blasts Trump admin’s ‘personal vendetta’ after some of its sites land on counterfeit list

Amazon is hitting the Trump administration after some of its foreign websites were included in an annual report on “notorious markets” for counterfeit foreign goods.

A spokesperson for the online retail giant said in a statement to The Hill on Thursday that its inclusion on the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) list is a “purely political act” and another example “of the Administration using the U.S. government to advance a personal vendetta against Amazon.”

The inclusion of Amazon’s sites on the list released Wednesday is the first time that an American company’s overseas operations have been listed.

There is no financial penalty or regulatory oversight from being placed on the list, but it could harm Amazon’s reputation by putting it side-by-side notorious counterfeit-friendly websites.

The list is meant to highlight “prominent and illustrative examples of online and physical markets that reportedly engage in or facilitate substantial piracy or counterfeiting,” according to the USTR’s report.

This year’s listing of Amazon’s Canadian, German, British and Indian sites was in response to a request last year from the American Apparel & Footwear Association.

“One submission specifically highlighted examples of the challenges right holders face with alleged high levels of counterfeit goods on the e-commerce platforms,” the USTR wrote.

The online retail company’s spokesperson said it “strongly disagree[s] with the characterization of Amazon” in the report.

“Amazon makes significant investments in proactive technologies and processes to detect and stop bad actors and potentially counterfeit products from being sold in our stores,” they continued. “In 2019 alone, we invested over $500 million and have more than 8,000 employees protecting our store from fraud and abuse.”

The Hill has reached out to the USTR for comment on Amazon’s pushback.

The criticism of Amazon’s inclusion on the list is the latest flashpoint in a long-simmering battle between the company and the Trump administration.

Trump for years has railed against Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos over his ownership of The Washington Post, a newspaper which the president has accused of being biased against him.

Amazon sued the Pentagon last year over allegations that Trump intervened to keep a lucrative cloud-computing contract away from the company over his personal disdain for Bezos, a “perceived political rival.”