Trump Will Decide 'Day by Day' on Intervening With Companies, Pence Says
He said Trump will choose case-by-case on dealing with companies like Carrier.
— -- Vice President-elect Mike Pence says the incoming Trump administration will decide on a case-by-case basis whether to reach out to companies that are considering moving jobs out of the country, as the president-elect did with Carrier.
"The president-elect will make those decisions on a day-by-day basis in the course of the transition and in the course of the administration," Pence told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos today on "This Week." .
Asked about Trump's decision to negotiate with Carrier but not with other companies planning to move jobs out of the country, Pence said, "I don't think it's picking winners and losers at all."
"What the president-elect did with Carrier was simply reach out, one American to another, and just ask them to reconsider," he said.
Carrier will receive about $7 million in state tax breaks to keep about 800 jobs in Indiana under the deal it worked out with Trump, although the company will still move hundreds of other jobs from its Indianapolis plant to Mexico.
"[Trump] asked them to reconsider, and they did," Pence said. "I think that the message that that sends across the American economy to businesses that may be considering leaving our country is that things are really changing."
Some conservatives came out against Trump's intervening with Carrier, saying that it goes against the principles of a free market. Former vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin called the deal "crony capitalism" in an op-ed earlier this week.
But Indiana Gov. Pence said Trump is living up to his campaign promises.
"We're going to make the American economy more competitive," Pence said. "We're going to get tougher and smarter on trade deals."
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