Will the Trump administration block the Amazon-Whole Foods deal?

Investors got quite a surprise Friday morning when e-commerce giant Amazon AMZN announced it would buy health food chain Whole Foods Market WFM in a massive deal worth nearly $14 billion.

In its official press release, Amazon said it has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Whole Foods under which Amazon will buy the grocer for $42 per share, a 27% premium to Whole Foods’ Thursday closing price (also read: Amazon Buys whole foods in a $13.7 billion deal).

As expected, Whole Foods shares immediately soared. Amazon shares gained about 3% and the company added another $10 billion to its market capitalization after the announcement. Investors are clearly excited about the deal, which is expected to close in the second half of the year.

But will it be that simple? The merger will of course be subject to a rigorous regulatory approval process, which could pose problems for Amazon as consumers become increasingly aware of its dominance in the shopping world — especially given the relationship between President Donald Trump and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.

In short, it would probably be fair to say that Bezos and Trump don’t like each other. In addition to Amazon, Bezos owns Washington Post Office—a publication that has led the way in public coverage of the investigation into Trump’s ties to Russia.

Interestingly, Trump has openly challenged Bezos in the past. In an interview with Sean Hannity during the campaign last year, Trump took aim at Bezos and Amazon, saying the e-commerce company has a “huge antitrust problem.”

“He thinks I’m going to go after him for antitrust violations,” Trump said. “Because he has a huge antitrust problem because he controls so much, Amazon controls so much of what he does.”

“He’s using The Washington Post, which is a peanut, and he’s using it for political purposes to save Amazon on tax and antitrust grounds.”

Trump also noted that he believes Amazon is “getting away with murder tax-wise” and described Washington Post Office as being a “toy belonging to Jeff Bezos.”

Nevertheless, since the election, Trump and Bezos have been behaving civilly. In December, Trump hosted a meeting with several tech industry leaders at Trump Tower. Bezos not only attended this meeting, but was also invited to a similar upcoming meeting at the White House.

Trump has also been relatively pro-merger since taking office. For example, the president tapped Makan Delrahim to head the Justice Department’s antitrust division. Delrahim is a respected lawyer who is likely to be more supportive of mergers.

Given their history, it will be interesting to see what Trump says about the Amazon-Whole Foods deal, and the merger will certainly face a lengthy, detailed regulatory process. But will personal animosity between Trump and Bezos play a role? That seems unlikely.

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