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You're Hired: Tracking the Trump Administration Transition - December 1, 2016
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This is the December 1, 2016, edition of a daily email sent from November 2016 to September 2017 that covered Donald Trump's presidential transition team, potential cabinet appointees, and the different policy positions of those individuals who may have had an effect on the new administration. Previous editions of "You're Hired" can be found here.
The Carrier Deal
Donald Trump and Mike Pence were in Indianapolis today to announce a deal with Carrier Corp. that will keep 1,000 jobs in Indiana. Last February, the heating and cooling equipment company announced its intentions to close manufacturing plants in Indianapolis and Huntington, IN, and to move operations to Monterrey, Mexico. More than 2,000 jobs were set to leave the state.
Carrier said in a statement yesterday that it had reached an agreement with Trump and Pence to keep more than 1,000 jobs in Indianapolis. More than 600 jobs from Indianapolis and all 700 from the Huntington plant are reportedly still slated to head to Mexico.
Many of the details of how Trump and Pence convinced Carrier to keep the 1000-plus jobs in Indiana remain largely unknown, but some information has started to trickle in. Tax incentives played a key role. In its statement yesterday, Carrier said, “The incentives offered by the state were an important consideration,” and United Technologies Corp., Carrier’s parent company, will reportedly receive $7 million in tax breaks over the next decade as part of the deal. Also part of the deal, United will invest $16 million in its Indiana operations. Some economists and observers in the media have said that United’s larger business interests could have formed an important part of the negotiations. Approximately 10 percent of the company’s annual revenue comes from federal contracts, mostly from the Pentagon. When asked by reporters if federal contracts played a role in the negotiations, Trump spokesman Jason Miller said, “This is about the president-elect and vice-president elect making good on their promise to go to bat for American workers, which they’re doing so, even before they’re actually sworn in.”
Keeping manufacturing jobs in the U.S. was a key component of Trump’s campaign platform, and he often spoke critically of Carrier’s decision to relocate to Mexico. He has proposed imposing a 35 percent tariff on goods from companies like Carrier that move jobs out of the U.S. Trump’s negotiations with Carrier mark one of his first major actions as president-elect and could foreshadow how he will approach the larger issue of U.S. companies shipping manufacturing jobs overseas. Since 2000, the U.S. has lost approximately 5 million manufacturing jobs, though economists have debated the cause of these losses, with culprits ranging from relocation to trade to technological innovation.
Reactions from inside the 465 beltway (Indiana)
Retiring Indiana Senator Dan Coats (R)—who is being considered by Trump for the position of Director of National Intelligence—tweeted, “I applaud @realDonaldTrump and @GovPenceIN for working with Carrier to save nearly 1,000 Hoosier jobs.”
Rep. André Carson (D), whose district includes the Indianapolis Carrier plant, said in a statement, “The entire Indiana delegation has been working for months in a bipartisan way to keep Carrier jobs in Indiana. I look forward to learning more about the details of this plan which I hope benefits thousands of Hoosier workers.”
Indianapolis’ Democratic mayor Joe Hogsett said, “I am hopeful that President-elect Trump's efforts will keep many of these jobs here in Indianapolis and I trust our national leaders will continue working alongside us to assist the Carrier workers whose jobs will still leave in the coming years.”
Indiana Senator Joe Donnelly (D), who is up for re-election in 2018, asked, “Who is going to be retained? What is the structure there will be for the retention? What is going to be put in place? Are these the same jobs at the same wage? I would sure like to know as soon as I can.”
Reactions from inside the 495 beltway (D.C.)
Former Democratic presidential candidate and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (I) sharply criticized the deal. In an op-ed in The Washington Post, he said, “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? How’s that for punishing corporations that shut down in the United States and move abroad? In essence, United Technologies took Trump hostage and won. And that should send a shock wave of fear through all workers across the country.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R) praised the news. Asked by reporters if he was “uneasy” with the deal, which, according to Politico, “could be construed as the federal government picking winners and losers,” Ryan responded, “Well, I’m pretty happy that we’re keeping jobs in America — aren’t you? I don’t know the details of the Carrier arrangement ... but I think it’s pretty darn good that people are keeping their jobs in Indiana instead of going to Mexico.” Concerning tax incentives, Ryan added, “What I can tell you about the tax code with respect to incentives for businesses is: This is what tax reform is all about. Comprehensive tax reform ... is about making the tax code far better and more competitive for American businesses to stay in America. I don’t know the contours of what Carrier is experiencing, but we tax our businesses at much much higher tax rates than our competitors tax theirs.”
Trump’s victory tour
Trump’s visit to Indianapolis is part of a larger post-election victory tour. He will be in Cincinnati, Ohio, later today. In mid-November, George Gigicos, a member of Trump’s campaign team, announced the tour, saying that it would focus on “the states that we won and the swing states we flipped over.”
Friday meetings with possible appointees and nominees
Trump will return to transition work on Friday. He is scheduled to meet with the following individuals at Trump Tower in New York:
- Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) - Perdue was first elected in 2014 and sits on the agriculture, budget, foreign relations, and judiciary committees. Prior to Trump’s selection of Wilbur Ross for Commerce secretary, Perdue was rumored to be in the running for that position.
- Retired Admiral Jay Cohen - Cohen was chief of naval research for the Navy from 2000 to 2006 and worked for the Department of Homeland Security from 2006 to 2009. He is now a principal at the Chertoff Group, a security consulting firm founded by former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff (2005 to 2009). Nothing is known about what, if any, position Cohen might be under consideration for.
- Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi - Bondi has been Florida’s attorney general since 2011 and is a member of Trump’s transition team. She’s close with Trump, and their relationship attracted criticism during the 2016 campaign after some in the media alleged that a donation from Trump’s foundation to her 2014 reelection effort influenced her decision not to pursue an investigation into accusations of fraud against Trump University. Rumors about a possible position for her in Trump’s administration have included a potential appointment to head the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy.
- Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton - Bolton was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006 and is now a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he has written articles criticizing American foreign policy under the Obama administration. Bolton’s name has been floated as a potential nominee for secretary of state—as has Mitt Romney’s and Rudy Giuliani’s—but Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has voiced opposition to a Bolton nomination. Last month, Paul said, “I’ll do whatever it takes to stop someone like John Bolton being secretary of state.”
- Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) - First elected in 2012, Heitkamp, a Democrat in a very red state, is up for reelection in 2018. It’s not known why Heitkamp is visiting Trump Tower, but she’s not the first Democrat to do so. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard have both made visits as well. In a statement, Heitkamp said, “Every single day, my work is motivated first and foremost by how I can be most helpful to the people of North Dakota. They are my driving force and have been throughout my career in public service. Whatever job I do, I hope to work with the president-elect and all of my colleagues in Congress on both sides of the aisle to best support my state.”
See also
- You're Hired: Tracking the Trump Administration Transition
- Donald Trump presidential transition team
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