Carrier, Trump Reach Deal To Keep Manufacturing Jobs In U.S.

Enlarge this image toggle caption Jean-Philippe Ksiazek/AFP/Getty Images Jean-Philippe Ksiazek/AFP/Getty Images

President-elect Donald Trump and Carrier have reached an agreement to keep 1,000 jobs in the U.S., the air-conditioner company announced Tuesday evening.

Trump also tweeted:

The company's plans to move some 2,000 jobs to Mexico from Indiana was a major campaign issue for Trump, who promised as president he would work to keep manufacturing jobs in the U.S. Now, along with Vice President-elect Mike Pence, the current Indiana governor, reports say they will preserve about half of those jobs.

The New York Times reports the two will appear at the Indiana plant on Thursday to announce the deal.

Trump invoked the company frequently during his rallies, and it became a key part of his appeal to blue collar voters, promising to stop the hemorrhaging of jobs overseas.

"I'm going to tell the head of Carrier: 'I hope you enjoy your stay in Mexico folks. But every single unit that you make and send across our border, which now will be real, you're going to pay a 35 percent tax,'" Trump said at a campaign stop back in March.

Those pledges helped him pull off upsets over Hillary Clinton in Rust Belt states such as Wisconsin and Michigan that were the key to winning enough electoral votes, even as Clinton maintains a roughly two million vote lead in the popular vote.

But the deal came about because of concessions from Trump, too. According to the Times, Trump and Pence "are expected to reiterate their campaign pledges to be friendlier to business by easing regulations and overhauling the corporate tax code," while "Trump is expected to tone down his rhetoric threatening 35 percent tariffs on companies like Carrier that shift production south of the border."