Trump criticizes Amazon for ‘great damage’ to retailers

President Trump renewed his attack on Amazon Wednesday, tweeting that the e-commerce giant is “doing great damage to taxpaying retailers” and removing jobs in cities.

Amazon, which employs about 180,000 in the U.S. and has plans to finish hiring 100,000 more full- and part-time jobs by mid-2018, couldn’t be reached for comment.

Trump’s blistering tweet, his first of the day, was issued hours after the Washington Post — the newspaper owned by Amazon chair Jeff Bezos — ran an editorial with the headline, “Mr. Trump gives comfort to racists.”

Many brick-and-mortar retailers are struggling to boost sales as customers increasingly turn to e-commerce sources, particularly Amazon, and they’ve been open about the difficult competitive environment.

A number of chains have filed for bankruptcy this year, including Payless, Gymboree, HHGregg and RadioShack.

And the biggest departmentstore companies, such as Macy’s, Sears Holdings and J.C. Penney, are shuttering hundreds of locations.

The total number of store closings is expected to hit a record in the U.S. this year, with Credit Suisse Group analyst Christian Buss estimating that the number could exceed 8,000.

On the other hand, Amazon is hiring rapidly. The online behemoth has pledged to hire more than 100,000 workers by 2018 and has been holding job fairs all over the U.S. In some cases, fired department store workers are ending up at Amazon fulfilment centers.

The Washington Post has been aggressive in covering Trump and the White House, breaking several impactful stories this year.

The paper and other national media outlets have been at the receiving end of the president’s constant attacks — on Twitter and in encounters with reporters — on what he considers to be “fake news.”

Using the hash tag# Amazon Washington Post, Trump tweeted in June that the paper was “the guardian of Amazon not paying internet taxes (which they should).”

The latest feud adds another wrinkle to Trump’s increasingly fractured relationship with the corporate America.

Scores of the chief executives who serve on Trump’s advisory councils spoke out against the displays of racism and violence at the white nationalists’ rally in Charlottesville over the weekend after Trump initially failed to directly censure the specific hate groups involved.