US president-elect Donald Trump has given a stern warning to American companies that want to shift businesses outside the borders, saying that they will face punishment. He made the statement in Indianapolis, where he announced a deal with air conditioning manufacturer Carrier to keep jobs within the country.
Carrier will be receiving $7 million in incentives over the next 10 years so that the company would keep 800 jobs in the country instead of transferring them to Mexico.
"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 yesterday 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 campaign, he had said that tariffs will be levied on companies that move bases to Mexico or Asia for their cheap labour.
While speaking about Carrier, a brand of United Technologies Corporation, he said that if they moved jobs to Mexico major taxes will be levied on the products when they make their way back to 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 as he recalled an early exchange with the firm's top executive.
Ford could be the next company where Trump would be headed to make a deal to keep jobs in America.
The Carrier deal was done with the help of vice president-elect Mike Pence, who is Indiana's outgoing governor. The tax breaks are "contingent upon factors including employment, job retention and capital investment," the company said in a statement.
According to Pence, the deal will keep about 1,100 jobs in "the heart of the heartland."
"This is a great day for Indiana and it's a great day for working people all across the United States of America," Pence said.
Trump has received positive publicity for making the deal, which is being seen as an "extraordinary industry intervention by a president-elect."
Democrats have criticised the deal. Bernie Sanders, who had taken on Hillary Clinton during the Democratic primaries, said, "Trump endangered other US jobs because he has signalled to every corporation in America that they can threaten to offshore jobs in exchange for business-friendly tax benefits and incentives."
According to Vox, Trump would have to create 200,000 jobs a month to make a significant impact on job growth to deal with the US' growing population. However, he has only brokered two in three weeks.
