Donald Trump Invested in Carrier Parent Company-Mostly Truth!
Summary of eRumor:
Carrier received a so-called government handout under the guise of keeping manufacturing jobs in America because President-elect Donald Trump is invested in Carrier’s parent company.
The Truth:
Donald Trump had $100,000 to $250,000 invested in Carrier’s parent company, United Technologies Corp., in 2014 — but it’s not clear whether or not he still does.
Trump’s investments in Carrier’s parent company became a sticking point after Trump negotiated with the company to prevent the company from moving some American manufacturing jobs to Mexico in exchange for tax incentives.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump promised Carrier’s parent company $7 million in tax breaks in exchange for keeping an undetermined number of jobs at plants in Indiana. It was first reported that the deal would save 2,100 jobs, and then 1,100 jobs, that were threatened, but Forbes reports that the actual number of saved jobs is less because some were white collar jobs that were never in jeopardy:
The initial claim for the negotiations that Trump held with Carrier was that 1,100 jobs would be saved. That was already far from the 2,100 jobs supposedly threatened.
The full total saved, however, was smaller because 300 of the jobs were white-collar positions that were never going to be relocated. The total number of jobs saved was 800, or about 44 percent of the total 1,800 that would otherwise have been lost. Far from all the jobs were saved, although it still means many people would keep working. But at what cost?
Because the $7 million in tax breaks will be paid out over 10 years at a cost of $700,000 per year, the government’s cost for the 800 saved jobs would be $875 per worker per year, Forbes continues, “The sum is ridiculously small when comparing labor rates in Mexico. That isn’t enough money to keep a company in the country because labor in Indiana would still be more expensive”:
Former Indiana lieutenant governor John Mutz, who sits on the board of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, told Politico that the driver for the change was more likely fear on the part of Carrier’s parent, United Technologies, that Trump would interfere with part of the $6.7 billion in federal contracts it held.
As questions about Trump’s negotiation’s with Carrier’s parent company swirled, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump had as much as $250,000 invested in Carrier’s parent company as recently as 2014. However, it’s not clear whether Trump still has investments in United Technologies because those disclosure forms are filed annually:
WASHINGTON—President-elect Donald Trump in recent years has had an investment of as much as $250,000 in the parent of the company he pushed to shelve plans to move its Indianapolis factory to Mexico.
Mr. Trump in 2014 owned an investment between $100,001 and $250,000 in United Technologies Corp., according to financial disclosure forms filed during the presidential campaign. It couldn’t be learned whether he still had a financial investment in the company because disclosure forms are filed only annually. Mr. Trump’s 2015 disclosure is the most recent one available and was filed in May 2016.
The Trump transition team didn’t respond to requests for comment.
His 2015 form showed he owned one or more corporate bonds issued by United Technologies. The bond investment, held in a brokerage account through a Deutsche Bank AG unit, paid between $2,501 and $5,000 in interest for the year, the form said, but it valued the investment at between nothing and $1,000. His 2014 financial form for 2014 indicated he held an investment in United Technologies in the same account that paid interest in the same range, with a value between $100,001 and $250,000.
It isn’t clear what happened to the investment between 2014 and 2015. Mr. Trump didn’t indicate on the form that he had sold the investment and he didn’t appear to report capital gains for such a sale.
So, while it’s true that Trump held a bond investment in Carrier’s parent company that paid out as much as $5,000 as recently as 2014, but it’s not clear whether he still held them at the time of his negotiations with the company.