During an on-the-record interview with Time magazine last week, President-elect Donald Trump's mind flitted to his plans to keep jobs in the U.S. "Hey, Reince, I want to get a list of companies that have announced they're leaving," Trump said to incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, mid-interview with Time for his Person of the Year feature, which was published Wednesday.
Trump indicated that once he'd received that list of companies looking to ship jobs overseas, he'd take matters into his own hands. "I can call them myself," Trump said to Priebus. "Five minutes apiece. They won't be leaving. Okay?" Time's Michael Scherer observed, "He was talking as if he had just realized — at that moment, in the middle of an interview — that he had the power to do what he promised to do on the campaign trail."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Though personally reaching out to each and every company might be one way for Trump to fulfill his campaign promises, The Huffington Post pointed out that the president-elect is "going to be on the phone for many hours, because Carrier's case is not at all unusual." The Huffington Post reported that "this year, the U.S. Labor Department has certified petitions for Trade Adjustment Assistance for workers at more than 1,000 firms cutting jobs due to foreign trade."