Trump warns of ‘retribution’ on companies
said it was an intentionally provocative move that establishes the incoming president as a break with the past.
But Mr. Trump began his day with a string of earlymorning tweets in which he said he intends to keep jobs in the United States by lowering taxes for companies and slashing regulations, two key components of his economic agenda. But he also warned that companies that send jobs offshore would face a 35 percent tariff on goods sold back to the U.S.
“Any business that leaves our country for another country, fires its employees, builds a new factory or plant in the other country, and then thinks it will sell its product back into the U.S. … without retribution or consequence, is WRONG!” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter.
The threat was viewed as marking perhaps the clearest sign yet since the election that Mr. Trump has not abandoned the controversial economic positions he adopted during the campaign. In addition to vowing to hit American companies with severe consequences if they imperil American jobs as a candidate, he pledged to tear up trade agreements and tag products from countries such as China and Mexico with tariffs if those nations continue to take American jobs.
The comments apparently set up a clash with Republicans who have long argued in favor of free trade and against excessive intrusion by government into the affairs of businesses.
Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., a frequent Trump critic, argued that a 35 percent tariff would be passed along to American consumers in the form of higher prices.
Mr. Trump’s threat Sunday also put American companies in an extraordinarily difficult position. Offshoring has been a key element of corporate America’s strategy in recent decades, and major lobbying groups have been defenders of trade agreements. But groups stood nearly silent on Sunday, potentially worried about drawing the wrath of the president-elect.
Last week, Mr. Trump made clear he would intervene in specific situations in which companies are considering moving work overseas. Last week, he traveled to an Indiana factory owned by furnace and air-conditioner manufacturer Carrier to champion a deal to keep between 800 to 1,100 jobs in the U.S. To much criticism, Carrier had planned to move them to Mexico.
Mr. Trump would be able to follow through on some of his threats without congressional approval, it’s not clear whether he could penalize companies broadly for moving jobs overseas without congressional authorization.
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump’s credibility was boosted Sunday when people involved in or briefed on the talks said that the historic communication — the first between leaders of the United States and Taiwan since 1979 — was the product of months of quiet preparations and deliberations among Mr. Trump’s advisers about a new strategy for engagement with Taiwan that began even before he became the GOP presidential nominee.
And in a series of Sunday evening tweets, Mr. Trump said: “Did China ask us if it was OK to carry out a number of actions such as build up disputed islands in the South China Sea or take economic measures hurtful to the United States.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump has expanded his search for a secretary of state beyond the four finalists his aides previously identified, including former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, a senior adviser said Sunday.
The possible selection of Mr. Romney, who was a forceful Trump critic throughout the campaign, has been met with trepidation from many of Mr. Trump’s working-class supporters.