Bill would punish firms that send jobs overseas

Not clear how far along legislation – “both a carrot and a stick” – might be

WASHINGTON» President Donald Trump is working on legislation that would create new incentives for companies to keep jobs in the U.S. and punish those that move overseas, he said Tuesday.

Precise details of the legislation could not be learned, and it’s unclear whether it is close to being introduced or still in the drafting stages. But Trump said it has been in the works for a while.

“Economic-development incentives for companies,” Trump said in a Forbes interview published Tuesday. “Incentives for companies to be here.”

Forbes quoted Trump as saying U.S. companies that move operations to other countries would “get penalized severely . ... It’s both a carrot and a stick.”

Trump added that the punishment would be making it “very tough for you to think that you’re going to be able to sell your product back into our country.”

Trump has been threatening a version of this since he was a candidate in 2015, saying he would impose tariffs or some type of tax that penalizes U.S. companies that move overseas and try to sell their goods back into the U.S. But senior administration officials have never followed through on the plan.

The imposition of such taxes has split the business community, with some domestic manufacturers saying it would be a good idea and multinational companies worried that it could drive up their costs.

There is no indication yet whether House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., or Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have been involved in discussions about the plan or will allow a vote on the measure. Trump could try to add it to the tax package he hopes to have on the House and Senate floor this year as a way to court support from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.

But imposing new penalties for companies that move operations overseas could reignite a messy fight that business groups thought they had settled recently.

Retailers, automotive companies and other firms led Republicans to strip a provision out of the GOP tax plan that would have raised taxes on items imported for sale into the U.S. The provision, often referred to as a border-adjustment tax, was designed in part by Ryan, and it would have created incentives for U.S. companies to export more goods, while also raising around $1 trillion in new revenue over 10 years.