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Consumers are only just starting to feel pain from Trumps Liberation Day tariff spree. Amazon founder and chairman Jeff Bezos, however, may be starting to feel something else from the tariffs: regret. When a report emerged overnight claiming that Amazon would start displaying tariff costs on its main page, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded by torching Amazon in a Tuesday morning press briefing. (According to CNN, Trump had already personally chewed Bezos out by then.) Despite everything that Bezos has done to support Trump in his second term, the administration just made it crystal-clear that presidential support under Trump only flows in one direction. Evidently, no amount of fealty was ever going to save Amazon from Trumps wrath if throwing Bezos under the bus ever proved advantageous in the slightest. Although Amazon strongly disputes the initial report about displaying tariff costs (“This was never approved and is not going to happen.”), such a move would not be unheard of. Other businesses, including Fabletics and Temu, have been introducing tariff surcharges, alerting customers in letters, and adding tariff prices to websites and bills. Meanwhile, Amazon has reportedly been hurting more than most under Trumps 145% tariffs on China. Leavitt did not seem to think Amazon was justified in potentially joining those other companies, though. Speaking on behalf of Trump, she described it as a hostile and political act by Amazon. REPORTER: Amazon will soon display a number next to the price of each product that shows how much the Trump tariffs are adding. Isn't that a perfect demonstration that it's the American consumer who is paying for these policies? LEAVITT: This is a hostile and political act by Amazon.[image or embed]— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) April 29, 2025 at 9:03 AM Its not a surprise, Leavitt continued, because, as Reuters recently wrote, Amazon is partnered with a Chinese propaganda arm. She held up a printout of the article, about an Amazon project known as China Books, to prove it was realthough recent is a bit of a stretch, considering the article came out in 2021. This broadside seems designed to provide a handy talking point about why Amazon is, in this administrations apparent view, in cahoots with China against Trump. Surely, Amazons reported stab at pricing transparency is an act of political hostility and sabotage, Leavitts comments suggest, not an accurate temperature-read of a climate in which consumer confidence has already plunged to its lowest levels since peak pandemic 2020. Its obvious why the administration would want to paint Amazon as the villain in this situation. An April survey of 400 U.S. company leaders by the research firm Zilliant found 44% of businesses plan to pass tariff costs onto consumers. A company of Amazons size and stature leading the charge would give any companies who remain on the fence permission to go for it. If Amazon is displaying tariff costs, showing customers who to blame, it becomes standard procedure. What is far less obvious, though, is why Bezos ever worked so hard to get on Trumps good side in the first place. During Trumps first term, Bezos had a contentious relationship with the president. Trump would frequently affix Amazon to the title of the newspaper Bezos owns, The Washington Post, when speaking about the paper after he received unfavorable coverage. The implication was that the paper was little more than a lobbying arm for Bezoss personal business interests. Bezos even argued in a 2019 court case that Trumps bias against Amazon had cost it a chance to win a $10 billion Pentagon contract. In Trumps second term, though, past has not been prologue. Bezoss sharp pivot toward MAGA began last October with his out-of-nowhere announcement that the Post would not be endorsing a candidate in the November election. Though he cited the move as a way to avoid a perception of bias at a time when many Americans dont believe the media, the last-minute announcement only fostered a perception of biasat the Post, specifically. The non-endorsement reportedly cost the paper over 250,000 subscribers. At the time, Bezos could have plausibly still maintained a sheen of neutrality. He has only since further positioned himself firmly in Trumps corner, though. In the past few months, hes drastically scaled back DEI policies at Amazon, donated a million dollars to Trumps inauguration fund (and prominently attended it), dined at Mar-a-Lago, and overhauled the Posts op-ed section in support of two Trump-friendly pillars: personal liberties and free marketsa move that reportedly cost the paper another 75,000 subscribers. In Bezoss most sycophantic-seeming gesture of all, Amazon even shelled out $40 million for a documentary on Melania Trump. The ostensible reason for this red carpet rollout is that Bezos is a businessman, frst and foremost. In a December interview at The New York Timess DealBook Summit, he explained why he was more optimistic about Trumps second term: He seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation. If I can help do that, Im going to help him. But if an interest in deregulation was all that animated Bezoss enthusiasm, he probably wouldnt have been so ostentatious in his support of the president and his policies. Whats more likely is that he made a cold calculation that an if-you-cant-beat-em-join-em ethos and some financial support could neutralize the threat of Trumps antagonism. If so, it was a critical miscalculation. Even if it werent obvious from Trumps entire political life that loyalty is a one-way street, it should have been clear that hed only view with contempt those who have suddenly decided to butter him up (Everybody wants to be my friend, Trump crowed in December, as business leaders including Bezos began to kiss the ring.) What is the hypothetical difference between where Bezos finds himself todaywith the administration smearing Amazon as Chinese propagandists over a story that the company thoroughly denieshad he either opposed Trump or maintained an air of neutrality? Theres no way of knowing. Whatever it is, though, its probably a better position than Trump continuing to antagonize him while the anti-Trump crowd occasionally boycotts his company. Best of luck with the Melania doc, though.
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E-Commerce
Interior designer and stylist Jonny Carmack has a fruit room in his Danbury, Connecticut, home. Colorful faux produce bedecks every inch, from the cherry-shaped ceiling fixture to a strawberry side table and a bunch of other juicy gems in decorative forms. He’s part of a trend: Love for fresh fruits and vegetables is showing up not just in the kitchen but in imagery throughout the home. Carmack sees it as fun escapism, and a cause for conversation and celebration. Design experts say it also reflects a cultural embrace of sustainability and an upbeat connection to nature. Theres a certain romance to the farmstand it speaks to the pastoral lifestyle everyones craving these days, says Rachel Hardage Barrett, Country Living magazines editor-in-chief. This gravitation toward produce motifs intersects with spikes in interest around gardening, wellness and antiques. Barrett sees the trend in everything from home decor to apparel. She notes the recent viral trend Tomato Girl Summer; along with the color red, and various iterations of tomatoes, the vibe was one of Mediterranean cafes, beach walks and lazy summer days. Tomato Girl Summer obviously had a good run, but now theres a whole bumper crop of produce to choose from, from cabbage and radishes to strawberries and peaches,” Barrett says. Nostalgia is in play, too Barrett sees a revival in interest around items with cabbages and lettuce, which were common motifs in the 18th and 19th centuries. Cabbageware and lettuce ware enjoyed a revival with the Palm Beach crowd in the 60s, with fans like Jacqueline Kennedy, Bunny Mellon and Frank Sinatra. Now, theyve found a new audience. It ties into the grandmillennial design movement that champions beloved heirlooms,” Barrett says. “Target recently introduced a cabbageware-inspired collection that garnered more than 15 million TikTok posts. Social media has helped drive the fruity décor trend. In 2023, TikTokers went wild over a lemon-shaped ceramic stool at HomeGoods. The piece sold out, but the popularity of tables shaped like citrus wedges continued to grow. This winters interior design, décor and lifestyles shows in Paris and Frankfurt, Germany, sometimes felt more like vibrant produce markets than trade fairs. Booths at Maison et Objet and Ambiente were full of planters festooned with 3D grapes and watermelons; mirrors encircled in peapods or pineapples; tomato-covered cups, glasses and tableware. Lamp shades and tablecloths wore artful imagery of berry baskets and carrot bunches. Cushions burst with juicy prints. Vases were peppered with well, peppers, in clay or papier-mache. Los Angeles-based design editor and author Courtney Porter was at Februarys Ambiente fair in Frankfurt and enjoyed seeing the playful directions that designers were taking the trend. Colors were supersaturated, shapes were exaggerated and cartoonish, she said. And she liked the obvious tie-in to healthy living. Theres an emphasis on sustainable materials and youthfulness with this trend, as well. People are nostalgic for natural abundance, she said. Designers just wanna have fun Carmack, whose social media accounts include @vintageshowpony, says the Fruit Room has been his most popular design project, “and its because of the cartoon references like Dr. Seuss and Animal Crossing. It just makes people happy. A fantastical fruit called the truffula shows up in The Lorax. And fruits in the Animal Crossing video games serve as trade tokens, village builders and currency. Carmack imparts a little personality to his favorite fruits. Cherries are flirty and fun. Strawberries are like their younger sisters, cutesier and sweeter in nature, he says. Cookbook author and food columnist Alyse Whitney has embraced whats sometimes referred to on social media as the Grocery Girl vibe. Her apartments got a wreath made out of metal mushrooms and a ceramic stool that looks like a cut lemon. Then theres all the banana-themed stuff: a platter, salt and pepper shakers, napkin rings. Whitney says shes been drawn to food décor her whole life, collecting fun pieces from discount retailers and thrift stores. But when she moved from New York to Los Angeles, she went to an estate sale. There, I got my first Murano-style glass produce a bell pepper, a peach and a pear. And a small ceramic soup tureen shaped like a head of cauliflower, complete with 3D leaves and a matching plate that looked like its root and greens. Those pieces got her on a full-fledged food collectible mission. Its a trend that spans decorating aesthetics, says Barrett. If your style is more retro or youthful, you can embrace a little kitsch. For a more sophisticated look, opt for fruit motifs in the form of wallcovering or fabric, she says. So, eat it or decorate with it; there are lots of ways to show your love for a favorite veg or fruit. Dressing your home with this aesthetic is an experiment in self-expression that so many people are connecting to, says Carmack, and I love to see it. Kim Cook, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Since her birth 10 years ago, Mackenzie Holmes has rarely called one place home for long. There was the house in Houston owned by her grandmother, Crystal Holmes. Then, after Crystal lost her Southwest Airlines job and the house, there was the trio of apartments in the suburbsand three evictions. Then another rental, and another eviction. Then motels and her uncle’s one-bedroom apartment, where Mackenzie and her grandmother slept on an inflatable mattress. Finally, Crystal Holmes secured a spot in a women’s shelter so the two would no longer have to sleep on the floor. With nearly every move came a new school, a new set of classmates, and new lessons to catch up on. Mackenzie only has one friend shes known longer than a year, and she didn’t receive testing or a diagnosis for dyslexia until this year. She would often miss long stretches of class in between schools. Schoolchildren threatened with eviction are more likely to end up in another district or transfer to another school, often one with less funding, more poverty and lower test scores. They’re more likely to miss school, and those who end up transferring are suspended more often. That’s according to an analysis from the Eviction Lab at Princeton University, published in Sociology of Education, a peer-reviewed journal, and shared exclusively with The Associated Press’ Education Reporting Network. Pairing court filings and student records from the Houston Independent School District, where Mackenzie started kindergarten, researchers identified more than 18,000 times between 2002 and 2016 when students lived in homes threatened with eviction filings. They found students facing eviction were absent more often. Even when they didnt have to change schools, students threatened with eviction missed four more days in the following school year than their peers. In all, researchers counted 13,197 children between 2002 and 2016 whose parents faced an eviction filing. A quarter of those children faced repeated evictions. As eviction rates in Houston continue to worsen, there might be more children like Mackenzie. Falling behind on rentand finding a way to finish the school year Neveah Barahona, a 17-year-old big sister to seven siblings, started kindergarten in Houston but has moved schools half a dozen times. Her mother, Roxanne Abarca, knew moving can be disruptive. So whenever she fell behind on rent and the family was forced to move, she tried to let them finish the school yeareven if it meant driving them great distances. Neveah, a strong student who hopes to join the military, said the moves took a toll. It is kind of draining, meeting new people, meeting new teachers, getting on track with … what they want to teach you and what you used to know, Neveah said. Then there’s finding her way with new classmates. A spate of bullying this year left her despondent until she got counseling. Households with children are about twice as likely to face eviction than those without children, Eviction Lab research has shown. That’s 1.5 million children getting evicted every yearand 1 in 20 children under 5 living in a rental home. Still, much of the discourse focuses on adultsthe landlords and grown-up tenantsrather than the kids caught in the middle, said Peter Hepburn, the study’s lead author. Its worth reminding people that 40% of the people at risk of losing their homes through the eviction process are kids, said Hepburn, a sociology professor at Rutgers University-Newark and associate director at the Eviction Lab. Households often become more vulnerable to eviction because they fall behind when they have children. Only 5% of low-wage earners, who are especially vulnerable to housing instability, have access to paid parental leave. Under a federal law that protects homeless students, districts are supposed to try to keep children in the same school if they lose their housing midyear, providing daily transportation. But children who are evicted don’t always qualify for those services. Even those who do often fall through the cracks, because schools don’t know why children are leaving or where they’re headed. Evicted families navigate invisible school boundaries In the sprawl of Houston, it can be especially challenging for transient students to stay on track. The metropolis bleeds seamlessly from the city limits to unincorporated parts of Harris County, which is divided into 24 other districts. Its easy to leave Houston’s school district without realizing it. And despite the best efforts of parents and caretakers, kids can miss a lot of school in transition. That’s what happened in January, when Mackenzie’s grandmother, then staying in her son’s one-bedroom apartment with her granddaughter, got desperate. Fearful her son would get evicted for having family stay with him, Crystal Holmeswho had no home, no car, and no cellphone servicewalked miles to a women’s shelter. The shelter, where she and Mackenzie now share a room, is in another district’s enrollment zone. She worried about Mackenzie being forced to move schools againthe fifth grader had already missed the first three weeks of the school year, when her grandmother struggled to get her enrolled. Thankfully, the federal law kicked in, and Mackenzie’s school, Thornwood Elementary, now sends a car to fetch her and other students from the shelter. Houston Independent School District did not respond to interview requests. Millicent Brown lives in a public housing project in Houston, alongside an elevated highway so noisy that she had to buy a louder doorbell. She and her daughter, Nova, 5, were forced to move last year when Novas father threatened to hurt Brown. Nova had attended a charter school. But when she moved, the school said it could only bus Nova from her new home if she waited on a street that Brown said was too dangerous. Instead, Nova missed a month of school before enrolling in a nearby public school. Brown grew up bouncing between schools and wants better for Nova. But she may have to move again: The state has plans to widen the highway. It would wipe out her housing projectand Nova’s new school. Nearly three years ago, Neveah and her family settled into a ranch-style home down a country road in Aldine. It’s brightly lit, with four bedrooms and a renovated kitchen. Neveah adopted a neighborhood cat named she named Bella. Her sister Aaliyah painted a portrait of the home that’s displayed in the living room. When we were little, we always kept moving, Aaliyah said. I dont want to move. I already got comfortable here. Then, last year, her mother once again egan to fall behind on rent. Ultimately, Roxanne Abarca received an eviction notice. The mother was lucky. At the courthouse, she met an employee tasked with helping families stay in their homes. The employee connected her with a nonprofit that agreed to pay six months of her rent while Abarca got back on her feet. And she did, working from home as a call operator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But the siblings’ dream of a forever home” may still come to an end. Abarca learned this month the home’s owner hopes to sell to an investor, displacing them once again. ____ The Associated Press education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. Moriah Balingit, AP education writer
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