Pres.-elect Trump, VP-elect Pence reach deal to keep majority of Carrier jobs from moving to Mexico

INDIANAPOLIS — President-elect Donald Trump and Carrier have reached a deal that will keep nearly 1,000 factory jobs in Indiana, the company said on Tuesday, November 29th.

Carrier poses an early critical test for President-elect Trump, who promised during the campaign to keep American jobs from fleeing to Mexico.

President-elect Trump and VP-elect Mike Pence, the current governor of Indiana, will be in Indianapolis on Thursday to announce the deal, Carrier said.

The company, which is owned by defense contractor United Technologies, announced in February that it would close two Indiana plants — a Carrier plant in Indianapolis that employs 1,400 workers and a United Technologies Electronic Controls plant in nearby Huntington, Indiana, that employs 700.

The company, which manufactures heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration systems, planned to send work to Mexico starting next year. That move would have saved it $65 million a year in labor costs, according to the union that represents the workers.

United Technologies is a leading defense contractor that benefits from billions of dollars in federal spending, so it needs to maintain good relations with the incoming President-elect Trump administration.

United Technologies collects about $5.6 billion in annual revenue from U.S. government contracts, according to company filings, which is equal to about 10% of its overall revenue.

Sen. Dan Coats took to Twitter to congratulate President-elect Trump and Pence on the deal.

CNN contributed to this report.