JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Carrier, an air conditioner manufacturer, says that it reached a deal with the incoming Trump administration to keep “close to 1,000 jobs” in Indianapolis — a campaign promise for the real estate mogul.
We are pleased to have reached a deal with President-elect Trump & VP-elect Pence to keep close to 1,000 jobs in Indy. More details soon.
— Carrier (@Carrier) November 30, 2016
No further details were available about what the deal would entail.
Senior level transition sources say Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will head to Indiana Thursday to announce that Carrier jobs bound for Mexico will remain in the United States after company leadership spoke with the president-elect following his election.
Trump tweeted several days ago that he was working on Thanksgiving to close the deal.
I am working hard, even on Thanksgiving, trying to get Carrier A.C. Company to stay in the U.S. (Indiana). MAKING PROGRESS – Will know soon!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 24, 2016
Some 1,400 workers were set to be laid off over three years at the Indianapolis plant and production was set to move to Mexico. Trump campaigned on stopping companies from moving their operations overseas.
“Believe me, if I were in office right now, Carrier would not be leaving in Indiana that I can tell you,” Trump said in Indianapolis in April.
A union rep for United Steelworkers Local 1999, which covers most of the impacted workers, said the news came as a surprise and that the union had not been contacted. The rep was glad to hear about the deal but was awaiting details.
A second rep said he was excited about the deal and that he had heard Trump would be visiting the plant later this week.
Earlier this month, Trump took credit for stopping Ford from moving a plant to Mexico, but the company said it never planned to move the entire plant.
Just got a call from my friend Bill Ford, Chairman of Ford, who advised me that he will be keeping the Lincoln plant in Kentucky – no Mexico
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2016
The company said it had only planned to move production of the Lincoln MKC to Mexico, but that would not have affected any jobs in the U.S.
A Ford spokeswoman said potential tax and regulatory changes from the incoming administration affected their decision not to move MKC production to Mexico.
Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.