Allowing American companies to operate their businesses outside of the United States without the government slapping some kind of penalty on them isn’t the free market — it’s the “dumb market,” according to President-elect Trump.
During a Fox News interview that aired Sunday morning, Trump talked up his recent deal with Carrier, in which Indiana awarded $7 million in tax breaks to the company and reportedly saved between 700 and 1,100 jobs from moving Mexico. That was after spending much of his campaign condemning Carrier for its planned outsourcing to Mexico.
“It’s so easy to do and we’re going to have to impose a major tax on companies that leave, build their product and think they’re going to sell it right through our border like we’re a bunch of jerks,” Trump said.
Earlier this month, Trump threatened “retribution” in the form of a 35 percent tariff against companies that move jobs offshore.
Host Chris Wallace pressed Trump on this issue, asking whether it impedes on the free-market principles that many conservatives espouse.
“That is — that’s not free market when they go out and they move and they sell back into our country,” Trump said.
“But that’s the free market,” Wallace shot back. “They made a decision and it makes —”
“No,” Trump interrupted. “That’s — that’s the dumb market, OK? That’s the dumb market. I’m a big free trader, but it has to be fair.”
“What’s happened is we have lost over a period of years, short years, 70,000 factories in this country,” Trump continued. “Chris, 70,000. I always say to people I think it’s a typo. How could it be so many? Seventy thousand factories. We’re being stripped of our workers. We’re being — I mean, we’re being stripped of our jobs.”
The president-elect said he expects that no company will make the move outside the U.S. under his watch because of the consequences.
“I’ll tell you. Nobody’s going to move. They’re not going to move. They’re not going to leave. They’re going to stay here,” he said.
