Trump resumes hard line on firms
He warns against jobs leaving U.S.
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday renewed his hard line on U.S. companies that plan to shift operations abroad, using a series of early-morning Twitter posts to warn again that “there will be a tax” of 35 percent levied against goods moved “back across the border” for sale.
The tariff, he said, “will make leaving financially difficult, but these companies are able to move between all 50 states, with no tax or tariff being charged.”
Trump had signaled a day before that he planned to continue to apply pressure to companies considering moves abroad, singling out on Twitter another Indiana company, the bearing manufacturer Rexnord.
“Rexnord of Indiana is moving to Mexico and rather viciously firing all of its 300 workers,” he wrote. “This is happening all over our country. No more!”
The posts came after Trump persuaded Carrier to keep about 1,000 factory jobs in Indiana with the help of $7 million in tax incentives.
In television interviews Sunday morning, Vice President-elect Mike Pence dismissed the suggestion that Trump was “picking winners and losers” by proposing tax breaks for companies that stay in the United States and tariffs for companies that manufacture goods in other countries.
“I don’t think it’s picking winners and losers at all,” Pence said on ABC’s This Week. “What the president-elect did with Carrier was simply reach out, one American to another, and ask them to reconsider.”
Pence said Trump had used the case to telegraph to companies thinking of moving operations abroad that he would pursue a pro-business policy agenda, including lowering corporate taxes and easing regulations, as well as renegotiating trade deals to protect U.S. jobs.
“He’s going to put on the table all the tools that are going to take away the advantages of companies that
for far too long have been pulling up stakes, leaving American workers behind,” Pence said.
Asked if Trump would intervene directly with other companies planning to move jobs out of the U.S., Pence said decisions would be made “on a day-by-day basis.”
Trump said last week that he plans more standoffs with companies like Carrier after he becomes president on Jan. 20.
“This is no one-off,” he said in Indianapolis on Thursday. “That’s one of the reasons I’m here as opposed to doing it from my lobby in Manhattan.”
CABINET POSTS
Kellyanne Conway, who managed Trump’s election campaign, told reporters that he plans to interview additional candidates for secretary of state this week and does not want to rush the decision.
“It is true that he’s broadened the search, and the secretary of state is an incredibly important position for any president to fill,” said Conway, now serving as Trump’s senior adviser. “He’s very fortunate to have interest among serious men and women.”
Among the other names that have surfaced for the position is Jon Huntsman, a former Republican Utah governor who also has served as ambassador to China under President Barack Obama. Huntsman sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, backing Romney after dropping out.
Speaking to reporters in Trump Tower, Conway declined to confirm consideration of Huntsman or to offer names of other possible contenders.
“Who knows how many finalists there will be?” she said. “It’s a big decision, and nobody should rush through it.”
The secretary of state finalists whom Trump aides had previously identified were former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, retired Gen. David Petraeus and Sen. Bob Cork- er, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Romney, the 2012 Repub- lican nominee, has some party support, but many Trump supporters have bristled at the prospect of giving one of the most important Cabinet posts to one of Trump’s harshest Republican critics during the campaign. Evidence of the unease with Romney came at Trump’s first stop on a “thank you” tour last week in Cincinnati, where chants of “No Romney” broke out among the crowd.
In the 2012 campaign, Romney took a harsh stance against Russia, and his consideration for the post has raised concerns there. But Russian President Vladimir Putin says he is confident that Trump will soon realize
the level of responsibility his job entails and make good choices.
Putin said in remarks released by Russia’s NTV channel that Trump’s business accomplishments show him to be a “smart man.”
He added that “if he is a smart man, that means that he will fairly soon become aware of a different level of responsibility. We expect that he act with these considerations in mind.”
Giuliani has also openly campaigned for the secretary of state post but faces questions about his international business ties. Corker has said he does not expect to get the job.
Petraeus, a former CIA director, also has interviewed with Trump, but last year he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified information, admitting that he gave sensitive materials to former lover and biographer Paula Broadwell. The scandal led to his resignation from the CIA, and he is still on probation for the misdemeanor.
During an appearance Sunday on This Week, Petraeus acknowledged his mistake and said “they’ll have to factor that in and also obviously 38½ years of otherwise fairly, in some cases, unique service to our country in uniform and then at the CIA and then some four years or so in the business community.”
Petraeus added that he’s already paid a “very heavy price” for his missteps.
“Folks will have to factor that in and determine whether that is indeed disqualifying or not,” he said.
Pence said Sunday that Petraeus “is an American hero” who led the wars in Iraq and
TAIWAN CALL
The future secretary of state will shepherd the foreign policy of Trump, who made waves Friday over a telephone call with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-Wen that went against long-standing U.S. practice.
In a series of Sunday evening tweets, Trump was critical of accusations that he didn’t clear the call with China or the State Department. China considers Taiwan a rogue province.
“Did China ask us if it was OK to devalue their currency (making it hard for our companies to compete), heavily tax our products going into their country (the U.S. doesn’t tax them) or to build a massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea?” Trump tweeted. “I don’t think so!”
The Taiwanese leader called Trump on Friday to congratulate him on the election in a call set up by an American third party. Taiwan’s official Central News Agency, citing anonymous sources on Saturday, said Edwin Feulner, founder of the Washington-based Heritage Foundation, was a “crucial figure” in setting up communication channels between the sides.
The call prompted China to complain to the U.S. government. Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Saturday that the contact was “just a small trick by Taiwan” that he believed would not change U.S. policy toward China, according to Hong Kong’s Phoenix TV.
“The one-China policy is the cornerstone of the healthy development of China-U.S. relations and we hope this political foundation will not be interfered with or damaged,” Wang was quoted as saying. Chinese officials said they lodged a complaint with the U.S. and reiterated a commitment to seeking “reunification” with the island.
Taiwanese newspapers ran banner headlines Sunday about the call, and two noted on their front pages Sunday that Trump referred to Tsai as “the president of Taiwan,” a term that would upset China.
Pence said Sunday that the phone call shouldn’t necessarily be interpreted as a shift in U.S. policy. He shrugged off the attention to the call as media hype.
“It was a courtesy call,” Pence told NBC’s Meet the Press. When asked if the call signaled a break with the United States’ “one-China” policy, Pence replied, “We’ll deal with policy after Jan. 20th,” Pence said, referring to Inauguration Day.
“I think most Americans and, frankly, most leaders around the world know this for what it was,” Pence said. “And it’s all part and parcel. I think you’re going to see in a President Donald Trump a willingness to engage the world but engage the world on America’s terms.”
When Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday asked Conway what the call signaled, she replied, “It signals the fact that he was accepting a congratulatory call.”