Count the head of General Electric as a member of the #TrumpTrain.
“Look, I think he likes to win,” said Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE.
“If you just think about ‘The Apprentice’ saga itself,” he said, “we handed him a show that was the thinnest concept I had ever seen and he made it like a 14-year hit success. So, this is a guy that’s a competitor. He wants to win. I always found him in one on one sessions to be a listener and a guy that wanted to do good work.”
Speaking on with Carl Quintanilla on CNBC’s “Squawk Alley,” Immelt talked up Trump’s trade plans and role as the nation’s chief negotiator.
“I’ve traveled the world, Carl, for 35 years. People care about safety. They care about growth. If the president of the United States travels around the world and has nothing to offer from a standpoint of economic connection, you lose half of your negotiating power. This guy is a negotiator, a deal maker,” said Immelt, hopeful Trump can spark better trade.
“What President Trump will learn is that as he travels the world, trade deals give him power. The ability to trade as an economic, let’s say, negotiating technique, makes him more powerful,” added Immelt.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
