Trump’s Victory Tour Kicks Off In Indiana As Carrier Announces $7 Million Tax Break To Keep Jobs In U.S.

Donald Trump kicked off his victory tour in Indiana after fulfilling a promise made on the campaign trail. Nearly two years ago, Carrier announced they were closing a plant down and moving the production line to Mexico. Earlier this week, Carrier announced they would keep the plant open instead, saving more than 1,000 jobs.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, United Technologies, which owns Carrier, will receive a $7 million tax break over the next 10 years.

“The state of Indiana has offered Carrier a $7 million package over multiple years, contingent upon factors including employment, job retention and capital investment,” Carrier said in a statement moments before Trump arrived in Indiana.

In a speech on Thursday at the Carrier plant he and Vice President-elect Mike Pence helped save from being shut down, Trump said a nightly news report several months ago, featuring comments made by a Carrier worker who was enthusiastic about his campaign, encouraged him to make the first phone call that led to a deal keeping jobs in Indiana from being shipped to Mexico.

“They had a gentleman, worker, great guy, handsome guy, he was on and it was like he didn’t even know they were leaving. He said something to the effect, ‘no we’re not leaving because Donald Trump promised us that we’re not leaving,’ and I never thought I made that promise,” Trump said.

“He was such a great guy, he said, ‘I’ve been with Donald Trump from the beginning,’ and he made the statement that Carrier is not going anywhere,” Trump said.

Trump went on to say that after the news report, he called up Greg Hayes, CEO of United Technologies, to discuss Carrier’s plans to move jobs to Mexico.

“So I said, ‘Gregg you’ve got to help us out here, we need to sit down, we’ve got to do something because we just can’t let it happen,'” Trump said.

Trump was thankful for his supporter on the news that inspired him to make a call that ended up saving his and his co-workers’ jobs.

“These people owe him a lot,” Trump said as he scanned the room of Carrier employees.

Here’s my convo with the man who @realDonaldTrump called out in his speech — calling the PEOTUS his “hero” https://t.co/Ja5kkqYWAk #Carrier

— Brooke Baldwin (@BrookeBCNN) December 1, 2016

Back in April, Trump was discussing Carrier’s announcement to move jobs to Mexico by saying American companies who close factories in the U.S. and move their jobs elsewhere will be punished with high taxes.

ThinkProgress reports that three months later, Trump appeared on “Meet The Press” where Chuck Todd asked how President Trump would punish companies who outsource jobs.

“‘If they’re going to fire all their people, move their plant to Mexico, build air conditioners, and think they’re going to sell those air conditioners to the United States? — there’s going to be a tax,’ Trump said. Pressed on exactly what that tax would be, Trump replied, ‘It could be 25 percent, it could be 35 percent, it could be 15 percent?—?I haven’t determined.’

Not everyone is pleased with how Trump helped save jobs at Carrier. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders published an op-ed on Thursday reacting to the news that Carrier won’t be closing the plant and moving to Mexico after all.

“Just a short few months ago, Trump was pledging to force United Technologies to ‘pay a damn tax.’ He was insisting on very steep tariffs for companies like Carrier that left the United States and wanted to sell their foreign-made products back in the United States. Instead of a damn tax, the company will be rewarded with a damn tax cut. Wow! How’s that for standing up to corporate greed?”

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett is among those praising Trump for his leadership. He released a statement reminding his constituents that there’s still a lot more work to do to keep jobs from leaving the U.S.

“Today’s announcement is welcome news for hundreds of hardworking Indianapolis families and I am thankful that it appears many dedicated Carrier employees will continue to have good-paying jobs in this city. As Mayor, I’m mindful of who wasn’t in the room today – hundreds more Indianapolis workers whose jobs are leaving or have already left our city. We owe it to those families to come together as a state and a country to enact much-needed reform that will prevent future offshoring of Indianapolis jobs and invest in our local workforce.”

[Featured Image by Steve Pope/Getty Images]