Trump: I'm Spending Thanksgiving Fighting for Jobs

He says he's 'working hard' to keep factory in US
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 24, 2016 3:32 PM CST
Trump: I'm Spending Thanksgiving Fighting for Jobs
Mike Pence speaks at a news conference earlier this year on Carrier's decision to move jobs out of Indiana.   (AP Photo/AJ Mast)

Donald Trump has softened on a few campaign promises lately but he says he spent Thanksgiving trying to fulfill one: Persuading Carrier Corp. to keep an air-con factory in Indiana instead of moving it to Mexico. He tweeted Thursday that he was "working hard" on saving the factory and was "MAKING PROGRESS." The Washington Post reports that after Trump's tweet, the company tweeted that it had "nothing to announce at this time," but it has "had discussions with the incoming administration and we look forward to working together." On the campaign trail, Trump slammed the planned closure as "disgusting" and gave a crowd in Indianapolis a "100% guarantee" that the plant and its 1,400 jobs would stay in the US.

"Here's what's going to happen," Trump said. " They’re going to call me and they are going to say 'Mr. President, Carrier has decided to stay in Indiana.'" In another campaign stop, he promised to "tax the hell" out of the company and slap a 35% tariff on its product if it did move the factory over the border, the Indianapolis Star reports. Before he became Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence tried to keep the plant in Indiana after it announced its plan to begin layoffs next year and move production to Monterrey by 2019. Pence was unsuccessful, but he managed to persuade the company to repay Indianapolis $1.2 million for past tax breaks and return $380,000 in state grants. (Last week, Trump claimed to have kept a Ford plant in Kentucky.)

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