Trump and Pence took a well deserved victory lap at Carrier. The significance of the deal to keep jobs in the US is in its priorities. For far too long, administrations from both parties have been telling American workers to suck it up and take it on the chin for free trade. Globalism was here to stay and they had better learn to adapt to it by going to college and getting Green Jobs.
Or similar nonsense.
Trump's message is the opposite of Bill Clinton's. The jobs are coming back. The Carrier deal was achieved through standard means. And there are only so many deals of that kind which can be cut. But Trump didn't back away from some of his more muscular rhetoric either.
"I will tell you that United Technologies and Carrier stepped it up, and now they're keeping over 1,100 people," Trump said. "It's so great."
Trump said he got involved after seeing a report on Carrier's announcement it would leave for Mexico. Trump said he was moved by a Carrier employee and Trump supporter who promised his co-workers that Trump wouldn't let the company leave.
"It's because of that guy," Trump said, scanning the assembled throng and explaining how he reached out to the company's top brass.
"Companies are not going to leave the United States anymore without consequences," Trump thundered, before tempering the threat with pledges for deregulation and lower taxes.
"We're going to do great things for businesses," Trump said. "There's no reason for them to leave anymore."
Which is a good strategy. Businesses should want to stay in America. Many of the reasons that businesses are leaving have to do with government. But at the same time there should be a very clear choice. And if anyone can negotiate the gap between pro-business and protectionism, it's Trump.