US president-elect Donald Trump on Thursday spent the Thanksgiving holiday at his Mar-a-Lago resort, dining with his family at the Florida golf club after revisiting a campaign pledge he made about restoring US manufacturing.
Trump tweeted about an Indiana air conditioner maker he featured in his election campaign as an emblem of trade deals he said were unfavorable to US workers.
Trump, who has not been seen in public since arriving in Florida on Tuesday, said he was “working hard, even on Thanksgiving, trying to get Carrier A.C. Company to stay in the U.S. (Indiana). MAKING PROGRESS - Will know soon!”
Carrier, a division of United Technologies, said on Twitter that the company has had “discussions with the incoming administration,” but had “nothing to announce at this time.”
A representative for the company had no additional comment.
Earlier this year, the company said it would move 1,400 jobs to Mexico from Indiana, giving a three-year timetable for the shift.
The state’s Republican governor, Mike Pence — later picked by Trump as his vice presidential running mate — decried the decision, and spoke out against it often on the campaign trail.
Trump made Carrier’s decision part of his rallying cry against the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico.
He said he would slap taxes on the company’s air conditioners shipped back to the US.
Asked by reporters last week whether the company was reconsidering its decision given Trump’s victory in the Nov. 8 election over US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, the company said in a statement it was “making every effort” to help its Indiana employees during the shift.
“By providing three years advance notice of the move and by funding education and retraining programs for up to four years after the move is complete, we are providing employees with both time and opportunity to help them to make a smooth transition,” the company said.
Carrier also cited an agreement it had reached with the United Steelworkers union about compensation for affected workers.
Trump’s Thanksgiving comments on Carrier were reminiscent of remarks he tweeted last week about Ford, the automaker he criticized during the campaign for shifting some production lines to Mexico.
When Ford informed Trump it would not shift production of a Lincoln brand sport utility vehicle to Mexico from Kentucky, he took to Twitter to say he saved the plant, although the company had never considered moving the whole factory south of the border.
Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has been interviewing candidates for his Cabinet and other top White House positions. He and Pence have held more than 60 such meetings since the election.
He did not announce any new decisions on Thursday.
A spokeswoman said he was spending the evening with family members.
“They recognize how precious this kind of time is, and look forward to an evening together to celebrate and count their many blessings,” spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said.
They dined at the Mar-a-Lago club, where the menu included a choice of four chilled seafoods; “Mr Trump’s Wedge Salad”; deviled eggs; traditional turkey and stuffing; lamb; beef; and sea bass.
Among the eight desserts: “Three Layer Trump Chocolate Cake.”
Trump announced two picks on Wednesday for his Cabinet — South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as US ambassador to the UN and wealthy Republican donor and school choice advocate Betsy DeVos to lead the US Department of Education. Both are subject to US Senate confirmation.
Major choices for the departments of defense, state and treasury are still to come.
Trump’s US Department of State deliberations have spurred debate within his inner circle — particularly his consideration of Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and businessman who ran against US President Barack Obama in the 2012 election.
Romney would be a comforting pick for establishment Republicans, but Trump backers believe he should be disqualified because he called Trump a “fraud” during the Republican primary and urged Republicans to stop him from becoming their candidate for the presidential election.
Senior Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway on Thursday said on Twitter that she was on the receiving end of a “deluge of social media & private comms” about the Romney option, adding that being “loyal” was a positive attribute for the job.
Trump and Pence were “spending significant time” on the secretary of state pick, spokesman Jason Miller told reporters before the Thanksgiving break.
“They’ll be looking for things like chemistry, experience, a similar vision into what the president-elect and vice president-elect are trying to do with this administration,” Miller said.
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