New York mayor Bill de Blasio, mulling a presidential run, sought on Sunday to burnish his progressive credentials by accusing Amazon of caring only about “corporate image” when it abruptly decided to pull out of building its second headquarters, or HQ2, in Long Island City.

The tech giant’s decision, de Blasio said, was “arbitrary and unfair to working people”.

Speaking to NBC’s Meet the Press, the mayor said Amazon walked away from a “good, fair deal” and committed an “abuse of corporate power” when it announced on Thursday it would cancel the project without further negotiation, informing city and state leaders in a post on its website.

Opponents of the deal argued that HQ2 would not benefit existing residents, instead contributing to housing becoming unaffordable for those on low incomes.

De Blasio said Amazon’s termination of it agreement with the people of New York, which would have brought around 25,000 jobs as part of a plan for which a majority of New Yorkers expressed support, would serve to confirm people’s worst fears about corporate America.

“Here’s the 1% dictating to everyone else even though we gave them a fair deal,” de Blasio said, predicting that Amazon’s decision “would frustrate people all over this country to see a company treat a neighborhood and a city like that”.

“They said they wanted a partnership, but the minute there were criticisms they walked away. What does that say to working people that a company would leave them high and dry simply because some people raised criticisms, but they had a clear majority on their side?

“That’s what bothers me. They were more concerned about their corporate image … and they let a lot of people down in the bargain.”

The fallout from Amazon’s decision continues to reverberate politically, centrist Democrats accusing leftwingers of failing to understand the importance of job creation as part of achieving income equality.

Without naming Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Queens congresswoman who was at the forefront of pushback against Amazon, de Blasio told NBC progressives needed to be concerned with jobs while also giving back to working people.

“We can do that in the context of a thriving economy,” he said.

He sought to give Amazon’s critics a lesson in corporate tax incentives, saying the $3bn incentive Amazon was offered would only have kicked in after it had contributed $27bn to local and state tax coffers.

In Democratic ranks, young progressives are seeking to challenge their centrist elders in a dispute some think could split the party in a manner akin to the Tea Party’s challenge to centrist Republicans a decade ago. On Thursday, Ocasio-Cortez called the Amazon decision a victory for working people.

“Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazon’s corporate greed, its worker exploitation and the power of the richest man in the world,” she tweeted, referring to Amazon owner Jeff Bezos.

Citing a Newsweek report from last year, Ocasio-Cortez later asserted that “Amazon workers have to urinate in bottles & work while on food stamps to meet ‘targets’.”

That prompted a response from Dave Clark, Amazon’s senior vice-president of worldwide operations, who extended an invitation to the congresswoman to tour Amazon facilities.

“These claims simply aren’t true,” Clark wrote. “We are proud of our jobs with excellent pay ($15 min), benefits from day 1, & lots of other benefits like our Career Choice pre-paid educational programs. Why don’t you come take a tour & see for yourself … we’d love to have you!”

De Blasio has not committed to a presidential run or said he will not mount one, but he has travelled to early voting states, usually a sign of ambition.

Some observers have questioned whether the collapse of the Amazon deal will damage him. On Sunday, the mayor pitched the question beyond city limits.

“I don’t think anything about the Amazon decision affects the bigger debate in this country about the fact that if we don’t address this income inequality our country’s security and stability is threatened,” he said.

“I’m going to be talking about that all over this nation.”