Trump: Companies Will Be Punished for Leaving U.S.

INDIANAPOLIS — (CNN) Donald Trump praised Carrier for keeping over 1,000 jobs in the U.S. — and threatened other companies that might consider leaving the country.

“Companies are not going to leave the U.S. anymore without consequences,” Trump said Thursday at the Indiana plant that makes furnaces.

Trump said that those consequences would include paying higher tariffs on imports.

Carrier announced in February that it would lay off workers and move those jobs to Mexico.

[van id=”politics/2016/12/01/donald-trump-carrier-plant-jobs-deal-indianapolis-sot.cnn”]

However on Tuesday, the company announced that it had reached a deal with Trump to keep the jobs at its Indianapolis plant, rather than move them to Mexico.

Carrier said state “incentives” from Indiana were an “important consideration” in its decision to stay put.

Trump said in the press conference Thursday that he planned to lower the business tax from 35% to 15%, and that treating U.S. companies better was part of his strategy for keeping jobs in the U.S.

Carrier, which is owned by United Technologies, has long been a major player in the air conditioning business.

As part of its agreement with Trump, Carrier will get a modest $7 million in financial incentives over the next 10 years from the state of Indiana. That’s just a fraction of the estimated $65 million a year it expected to save if it had moved those jobs to Mexico.