Trump delivers, saves 1000 IN jobs

Earlier this week, air conditioning company Carrier Corp. announced that it struck a deal with president-elect Donald Trump to keep some 1000 manufacturing jobs here in the USA, instead of moving its Indianapolis plant to Mexico as was planned.

And Trump, who has pledged to cut corporate tax rates, had leverage because Carrier’s parent company, United Technologies, also owns Pratt & Whitney, which has contracts to produce fighter jet engines for the US military. Not going to happen.

US President-elect Donald Trump today warned US companies of “consequences” if they relocate overseas and promised to slash tax from 35 per cent to 15 per cent to make America attractive for businesses.

Mr. Sanders said Mr. Trump promised to punish companies with punitive taxes but appears to have lured Carrier back with tax cuts.

Trump also did not address whether Carrier’s parent company, United Technologies, would face any consequences for continuing with plans to move 1,300 other IN jobs to Mexico.

Carrier released a statement on Wednesday, saying the deal “benefits our workers, the state of IN and our company”.

The “push” offshore has come from excessive regulations, the highest corporate tax rate in the world, and energy and electricity costs that are needlessly burdensome.

Afterward, Trump announced on Twitter that he would “be going to IN on Thursday to make a major announcement concerning Carrier A.C. staying IN Indianapolis”.

“No. 1, we’re going to treat them well, and No. 2, there will be consequences”, he said.

Trump pointedly warned: “Our jobs are fleeing the country”. Along the way, as he did at similar rallies during the campaign, Trump bragged about his political success and bashed the media as “very dishonest people” who didn’t believe he had a chance to win the presidency.

The Carrier deal is just the latest piece of evidence suggesting that Trump’s populist rhetoric about championing the working stiff and cracking down on greedy globalist corporations was all a bunch of hooey.

Trump and aides called the tour a chance for him to thank the voters who put him in office, though some analysts questioned whether they are a waste of time that could otherwise be devoted to the massive task of putting together a presidential administration.

In exchange for the tax breaks, Carrier agreed to invest more than $16 million in the state of Indiana. Earlier Thursday, Seth Martin, a spokesman for Carrier, said that IN offered the air conditioning and furnace manufacturer $7 million IN tax incentives after negotiations with Trump’s team to keep some jobs IN the state.

That is just a fraction of the estimated $65 million a year it expected to save if it had moved those jobs to Mexico. In February, the heating and air conditioning company said that it would shut the plant and send jobs to Mexico, and video of angry workers being informed about the decision soon went viral.

The Carrier deal is a major coup for Trump, who had repeatedly pledged during his election campaign to keep American jobs from moving overseas.

“It is paychecks for workers, but it’s also revenue for the state”, said Republican State Sen.

Carrier “took Trump hostage and won”, Sanders said in an op-ed he wrote for The Washington Post.

“Unfortunately, there are still 400-600 jobs leaving”, he said.

Heitkamp, a Democrat in her first term, tells The Associated Press she spoke with Trump for more than an hour about energy, agriculture and Interior Department issues.

Trump was due to hold a rally in Cincinnati later on Thursday and address supporters who helped him win the swing state of OH in his upset victory over Clinton.

The president-elect was speaking at a rally at US Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio – the first of several stops on his victory lap.

He said he has nothing to say to Pence. But that’s likely because it wasn’t Trump’s sole selling point. His nominee for commerce secretary is Wilbur Ross, a billionaire industrialist.