Carrier Says It Has Deal With Trump To Keep Jobs In Indiana
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Air conditioning company Carrier Corp. said Tuesday that it had reached a deal with President-elect Donald Trump to keep nearly 1,000 jobs in Indiana.
Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence planned to travel to the state Thursday to unveil the agreement alongside company officials.
Trump confirmed the meeting on Twitter late Tuesday, promising a "Great deal for workers!''
In another Tweet, Trump said: "We will keep our companies and jobs in the U.S. Thanks Carrier."
The details of the agreement were unclear. Carrier tweeted that the company was "pleased to have reached a deal'' with Trump and Pence to keep the jobs in Indianapolis.
As CBS2's Dick Brennan reported, Treasury Secretary nominee Steve Mnuchin praised the deal on Wednesday.
"The Carrier deal, I think it's terrific," Mnuchin said.
Trump spent much of his campaign pledging to keep companies like Carrier from moving jobs overseas. His focus on manufacturing jobs contributed to his unexpected appeal with working-class voters in states like Michigan, which has long voted for Democrats in presidential elections.
Trump said last week that he was "making progress'' on trying to get Carrier to stay in Indiana.
In February, Carrier said it would shutter its Indianapolis plant employing 1,400 workers and move its manufacturing to Mexico. The plant's workers would have been laid off over three years starting in 2017.
"Companies like Carrier simply fire their workers and move their operations to Mexico," Trump said at a rally in Naples, Florida in October. "Guess what? Not going to be so easy to do anymore."
Trump also railed against Carrier's plans in a September debate against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
"So many hundreds and hundreds of companies are doing this,'' Trump said. "We have to stop our jobs from being stolen from us. We have to stop our companies from leaving the United States.''
Trump said last week that he was "making progress'' on trying to get Carrier to stay in Indiana.
In February, Carrier said it would shutter its Indianapolis plant employing 1,400 workers and move its manufacturing to Mexico. The plant's workers would have been laid off over three years starting in 2017.
United Technologies Electronic Controls also announced then that it planned to move its Huntington manufacturing operations to a new plant in Mexico, costing the northeastern Indiana city 700 jobs by 2018. Those workers make microprocessor-based controls for the HVAC and refrigeration industries.
Carrier and UTEC are both units of Hartford, Connecticut-based United Technologies Corp. which also owns Pratt & Whitney, a big supplier of fighter jet engines that relies in part on U.S. military contracts.
"The president-elect and the vice president picked up the phone and called the CEO of the United Technologies and told them we want to keep jobs here," Mnuchin said.
Carrier wasn't the only company Trump assailed during the campaign. He pledged to give up Oreos after Nabisco's parent, Mondelez International, said it would replace nine production lines in Chicago with four in Mexico. He criticized Ford after the company said it planned to invest $2.5 billion in engine and transmission plants in Mexico.
Chuck Jones, president of United Steelworkers Local 1999, which represents Carrier workers, said of Tuesday's news: "I'm optimistic, but I don't know what the situation is. I guess it's a good sign. --- You would think they would keep us in the loop. But we know nothing.''
The event Thursday in Indiana will be a rare public appearance for Trump, who has spent nearly his entire tenure as president-elect huddled with advisers and meeting with possible Cabinet secretaries. He plans to make other stops later this week as part of what advisers have billed as a "thank you'' tour for voters who backed him in the presidential campaign.
As 1010 WINS' Steve Kastenbaum reported, Mnuchin also said Wednesday that said he is looking forward to improving the nation's economic growth to 3 or 4 percent under Trump.
"Our first priority is going to be the tax plan, and the tax plan has both the corporate aspects to it -- lowering corporate taxes so we make U.S. companies the most competitive in the world; making sure we repatriate trillions of dollars back to the United States, and the personal income taxes, where we're going to have the most significant middle income tax cut," he said.
Mnuchin did not say how the Trump administration would make up for the loss in revenue. His critics say he made billions off the backs of people who lost their homes during the recession when he was with Goldman Sachs.
Meanwhile at Trump Tower on Wednesday, a familiar New York face met with the president-elect – U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. Trump asked Bharara to stay on the job.
"We had a good meeting. I said I would absolutely consider to stay on. I agreed to stay on," Bharara said.
The meeting came a day after Trump dined with Mitt Romney, and the intrigue continues over whether his once fierce critic will become secretary of state.
"We'll see what happens," Trump said when asked about it.
Trump said he will hold a news conference on Dec. 15 to discuss his plan to leave his business empire while in office. In a series of tweets Wednesday morning, Trump said, "I feel it is visually important as president to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses."
It is not clear what the timetable is for the remaining appointments, but it is possible the process could go into next week.
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