Donald Trump's deal with Carrier Corp. is popular, but is it actually helping American workers? Senators react to Trump's tweet about cancelling a pending order for a new Air Force One. Read more in today's Politics Extra.
Carrier deal is popular: President-elect Donald Trump's first major action since Election Day - the deal he and Vice President-elect Mike Pence struck last week with Carrier Corp. - is earning support from American voters, according to a new Politico/Morning Consult poll. Sixty percent of voters surveyed said that Carrier's decision to keep about 800 manufacturing jobs in Indiana rather than moving them to Mexico gave them a more favorable view of Trump. Only 9 percent said it made them view Trump less favorably, while 22 percent said it did not have an impact either way.
But even though the jobs aren't going to Mexico ... Many of the approximately 800 jobs will likely be lost to automation, reports The New York Times. In an interview with CNBC's Jim Kramer, Greg Hayes, CEO of Carrier's parent company United Technologies, was blunt. "We're going to make up [the] $16 million investment in that factory in Indianapolis to automate, to drive the cost down so that we can continue to be competitive. Now is it as cheap as moving to Mexico with lower cost of labor? No. But we will make that plant competitive just because we'll make the capital investments there," Hayes said. "But what that ultimately means is there will be fewer jobs."
He also confirmed that he feared standing up to Trump because it could be costly to his conglomerate, which includes a lot of defense work. "There was a cost as we thought about keeping the Indiana plant open. At the same time - and I'll tell you this because you and I, we know each other - but I was born at night but not last night. I also know that about 10 percent of our revenue comes from the U.S. government."
Trump takes credit for Softbank's investment: Trump announced Tuesday on Twitter that telecommunications giant Softbank Group plans to invest $50 billion into the U.S. economy and add 50,000 jobs, reports USA Today. The news came after Trump met with Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son at Trump Tower.
Masa (SoftBank) of Japan has agreed to invest $50 billion in the U.S. toward businesses and 50,000 new jobs....
Masa said he would never do this had we (Trump) not won the election!
"We will invest in new companies," Son told reporters. It is unclear whether the Japanese company, which has a majority stake in Sprint, might make its investment in the form of a merger or acquisition.
"Cancel order!" Trump, who has flown in a jet bearing his name for years, appeared to cancel a pending order for a new Air Force One, saying Tuesday on Twitter that the upgrade would cost too much, reports The New York Times. "Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!" he tweeted. The post appeared to come out of the blue, since Trump had not focused during the campaign on the cost of the contract with Boeing to build two planes for presidential travel.
Senators react: U.S. senators are responding with amusement and bewilderment to Trump's declaration that he wants to cancel a contract to build the new Air Force One, reports Politico. Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama smiled when informed of Trump's tweet and said that if "it will save money or if he can negotiate a better deal, that's good for the taxpayers." Others, including Republican Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri and Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, laughed and said they wouldn't comment on the matter.
One senator who wasn't laughing was Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, who's constituents have a direct stake in the contract because Boeing is expected to build the planes in her home state. "The workers of my state and the workers of Boeing across this country do an incredible job and build an incredible airplane," she said. "I hope the president-elect takes the time to talk to the Pentagon and the Air Force and Boeing about how defense contracts work before he tweets."
Republicans defend Trump's Taiwan call: House Speaker Paul Ryan defended Trump's phone call last week with Taiwan's president, saying the negative reaction was "much ado about nothing," reports Business Insider. "I spoke with the president of Taiwan when she was transiting plans in Miami two months ago," Ryan told reporters Tuesday. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy also dismissed the implications of Trump's call, telling reporters that one congratulatory call would not change U.S. policy.
Iran nuclear deal: Iran will not permit Trump to ruin its nuclear deal with the U.S., President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday, according to CNN. "(Trump) wants to do many things, but none of his actions would affect us," Rouhani said in an address at the University of Tehran. "Do you think the United States can rip up the JCPOA (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal)? Do you think we and our nation will let him do that?" Throughout his campaign, Trump criticized the Iran deal, calling it one of the worst ever negotiated and pledging to renegotiate its terms.
Trump talks with D.C. Mayor: Trump and Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser met Tuesday in Trump Tower, reports Politico. "I'm not going to talk about his feelings or what he shared," Bowser told reporters after the meeting. "We talked about the things that are important to Washingtonians, and certainly becoming the 51st state is one of them." In addition to discussing D.C. statehood, they also talked about Metro, the cash-strapped transit system. The Democratic mayor added that she is not interested in a role in Trump's administration.
Biden's non-commitment: Less than a month after Election Day, some political pundits are speculating about who will seek the presidency in 2020. When asked if he would consider another run for the White House, Vice President Joe Biden remained open to the possibility, according to ABC News. "I am going to run in 2020 for president. What the hell, man, anyway," Biden told reporters Monday on Capitol Hill. When asked if he was joking, Biden said, "I'm not committing not to run. I'm not committing to anything, I learned a long time ago fate has a strange way of intervening."
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