President-elect warns of consequences for US firms relocating abroad

INDIANAPOLIS: US President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday warned American firms wanting to relocate abroad that they will face punishment, as he announced a deal with air conditioning manufacturer Carrier to keep jobs in the country.

“Companies are not going to leave the United States any more without consequences. Not going to happen,” Trump told workers at the Carrier plant in Indianapolis in his first major public remarks since winning the White House. “They can leave from state to state, and negotiate deals with different states, but leaving the country will be very, very difficult,” Trump added.

During the presidential campaign, the Republican billionaire threatened to slap tariffs on firms that decamped for places like Mexico or Asia where labour costs are cheaper. It became a repeated refrain of his victorious campaign. Trump specifically singled out Carrier, a brand of United Technologies Corporation, saying he had been encouraging the company not to shift thousands of jobs to Mexico.

If they did, he said his administration would impose major tariffs on Carrier products as they made their way back into the United States.

“But I called Greg (Hayes, UTC’s chairman) and I said it’s really important, we have to do something because you have a lot of people leaving and you have to understand we can’t allow this to happen anymore with our country,” Trump said.

Under a deal hammered out with the help of Vice-Presidentelect Mike Pence, who is Indiana’s outgoing governor, the state offered Carrier $7 million in incentives over 10 years, “contingent upon factors including employment, job retention and capital investment,” the companysaid. AFP