Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Trump: USPS hike prices or no loan
President says he won’t approve a $10 billion loan for the postal service unless the agency raises their charges.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday that he won’t approve a $10 billion loan for the U.S. Postal Service unless the agency raises charges for Amazon and other big shippers to four to five times current rates.
“The Postal Service is a joke because they’re handing out packages for Amazon and other internet companies, and every time they bring a package, they lose money on it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
The president was responding to a question about reports his administration plans to force major changes in postal operations as the price for approving a $10 billion loan that was included in the government’s $2 trillion economic rescue package.
Under the rescue package legislation, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin must approve the loan before the Postal Service can receive the money. Officials at the Postal Service had no immediate reaction to Trump’s comments.
Trump said the changes the administration will insist on will make it a “whole new ballgame” at the Postal Service. He said the Postal Service did not want to make the changes because it did not want to offend Amazon and other companies.
Mnuchin told reporters that he had Treasury officials working with the Postal Service on the terms of the loan.
“We are going to post certain criteria for (a) postal reform program as part of the loan,” Mnuchin said.
Trump tweeted later Friday that we won’t let the Postal Service fail.
“It has been mismanaged for years, especially since the advent of the internet and modern-day technology,” Trump said in a tweet. “The people that work there are great, and we’re going to keep them happy, healthy, and well!”