The incoming Trump administration has reached a deal with Carrier to keep about 1,000 jobs in the U.S. rather than outsourcing them to Mexico, CNBC reported Tuesday night.
Carrier, which manufactures air conditioners, attracted national attention in early 2016 due to a viral video of the company’s employees reacting to the news they were getting laid off, with their jobs being sent to new production facilities in Mexico. The move was intended to save Carrier’s parent company, United Technologies, tens of millions of dollars in labor costs.
President-elect Donald Trump specifically pledged to reverse Carrier’s outsourcing plan if he were elected.
“It’s not like we have an 80 percent chance of keeping them or a 95 percent. One-hundred percent,” Trump told an Indianapolis rally last April.
On Thanksgiving, Trump announced he was negotiating with Carrier to keep at least some of its jobs in the United States. Now, those negotiations appear to have borne fruit.
CNBC reported Tuesday night that a deal has been struck to keep about 1,000 jobs in the U.S., representing more than two-thirds of the 1,400 Carrier jobs that were to be outsourced. The deal, CNBC said, was spearheaded by vice president-elect and outgoing Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, and will be officially announced Thursday during a visit by Trump to the state.
It’s not clear how extensive the public inducements will be, but United Technologies has ample reason to please Trump. The company is a major defense contractor, and could lose billions of dollars if the Trump administration took a hostile position toward it.
Staff Writer 
R.L. Grimes