Trump says he's trying to get Carrier to keep jobs in US

Trump said he was trying to stop the makers of Carrier air conditioners from relocating its Indianapolis manufacturing operations to a company facility in Mexico.

Palm Beach, Nov 25: President-elect Donald Trump didn't take off all of Thanksgiving Day while enjoying a long holiday weekend with his family at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Trump said he was trying to stop the makers of Carrier air conditioners from relocating its Indianapolis manufacturing operations to a company facility in Mexico. Meanwhile, his transition team was stepping up its effort to raise money for inaugural festivities. And Trump offered a holiday prayer for a politically divided nation. After Thanksgiving Day, Trump and his transition team are expected to turn their attention back to building his administration.

Two possible appointments loom: retired neurosurgeon and former presidential candidate Ben Carson as secretary of housing and urban development and billionaire investor Wilbur Ross Jr. as commerce secretary. The most recent Cabinet-level picks to be announced were South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to serve as US ambassador to the United Nations and charter school advocate Betsy DeVos to lead the Education Department.

During the presidential campaign Trump often cited Carrier's decision last February as an example of jobs leaving the country in this case, an estimated 1,400 and how he as president would slap a tax on any units manufactured in Mexico and sold in the US.

"I am working hard, even on Thanksgiving, trying to get Carrier AC Company to stay in the US," Trump tweeted on Thursday. "MAKING PROGRESS - Will know soon!"

The company confirmed Thursday that it had discussed the move with the incoming administration but that there was nothing to announce.

Putting on inaugural balls and other festivities surrounding the Jan. 20 event will cost millions, and incoming presidents turn to supporters to foot the bill but try not to begin their administrations appearing beholden to donors. In Trump's case, he has set $1 million donation limits for corporations and no limits for individual donors, according to an official on the Presidential Inaugural Committee with direct knowledge of tentative fundraising plans.

The official was not authorized to disclose private deliberations by name and requested anonymity. At the same time, Trump's inaugural committee will not accept money from registered lobbyists, in line with his ban on hiring lobbyists for his nascent administration.

Barack Obama set stricter limits on donations for his first inauguration, in 2009, holding individual donors to $50,000 each and taking no money from corporations or labor unions, as well as none from lobbyists and some other groups.

PTI