Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank Group plans to invest $50 billion in the U.S. economy and add 50,000 jobs, President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday.
Trump appeared in the lobby of the Trump Tower with Masayoshi Son, the chief executive of SoftBank, to announce the news, and later put it out on Twitter.
Son did not say what specific investments SoftBank would make. While talking to reporters, he held up a piece of paper with the same figures that Trump had announced, but which also specified that the investment would be made over the next four years.
Mattis announcement
Later Tuesday at a rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Trump formally announced that he has chosen retired Marine General James "Mad Dog" Mattis for secretary of defense. He called Mattis, "one of the most effective generals and extraordinary leaders of our time," who will help America "destroy terrorists and face our enemies head on."
Michael O'Hanlon, a senior defense expert at the Brookings Institution, calls Mattis "one of the best read, best informed and most experienced generals of his generation."
Mattis has served as the head of U.S. Central Command, which carries out U.S. operations in the Middle East, and the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO forces. He briefly addressed the crowd, thanking Trump for the nomination.
The retired general will need a congressional waiver in order to be confirmed as secretary of defense. Mattis would otherwise be ineligible to serve because of a law that requires a seven-year wait for former members of the military to serve in the post. He has been retired for less than four years.
Fayetteville is the latest stop on Trump's "thank you" tour to salute his supporters. The venue is near several major military bases, including Fort Bragg.
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Campaigned on jobs
Trump, in his unlikely march to the White House, had campaigned on bringing more jobs to America, particularly in manufacturing regions hit hard by the recession and globalization.
The SoftBank deal is the second he has arranged to keep his promises to voters. Last week, he announced that the Carrier Manufacturing Corporation would keep nearly 1,000 jobs in Indiana instead of outsourcing them to Mexico.*
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In contrast, a shocking tweet from Trump on Tuesday could cost billions of dollars for one of the leading U.S. companies. The billionaire real estate mogul said he wants to cancel an order for a new Air Force One, the plane that flies U.S. presidents around the world. The government has contracted with the Boeing Company to construct at least two new planes, which would go into service in 2024.
The planes initially cost about $3 billion, but the costs have reportedly been rising, prompting Trump to tweet "the costs are out of control."
Boeing responded to Trump's criticism of the rising costs, saying in a statement that the contract is for $170 million, not the "more than $4 billion" included in Trump's tweet.
"We are currently under contract for $170 million to help determine the capabilities of these complex military aircraft that serves the unique requirements of the president of the United States," the statement said.
The statement from the aerospace giant suggested that the project is simply in one of several phases that must be completed during the development and building process.
"We look forward to working with the U.S. Air Force on subsequent phases of the program, allowing us to deliver the best planes for the president at the best value for the American taxpayer."
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Following Trump's tweet, Boeing stocks slid by more than 1 percent in pre-market trade, according to CNBC.
Sold all stocks
But Boeing's slide did not affect the president-elect's own bottom line because, according to his spokesman, Trump sold all of his stocks in June.
"The president-elect sold all of his stock back in June. I do not know if he had any Boeing stock at that time," said Trump spokesman Jason Miller. A financial disclosure filed in May showed Trump owned Boeing stock valued at between $50,001 and $100,000.
Trump's stock portfolio, which is separate from his broader real estate and branding businesses, accounted for a tiny fraction of his personal fortune. Most of his money is in real estate.
Recount grows
Also Tuesday, a presidential vote recount in Michigan expanded to several new counties, including its largest, Wayne, which includes Detroit. And in Wisconsin, where 23 of the 72 counties had finished recounts by Tuesday, Trump had widened his margin over Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton by 146 votes. He beat Clinton in the November 8 election in the Midwestern state by about 22,000 votes.
A federal judge in Philadelphia also scheduled a hearing Friday on a request for a recount.
Earlier this week outside Trump Tower, supporters of the three-state vote recount joined Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein in a rally to ensure an "accurate, secure, and fair" vote.
"We are here to assure Donald Trump that there is nothing to be afraid of," Stein said. "If you believe in democracy, if you believe in the credibility of your victory, put down your arms, end your bureaucratic obstruction, end your intimidation and join we the people of America who are calling for a democracy that serves all of us and elections that we can trust."
A judge has ordered a hand recount begin in Michigan, one of three battleground states that Stein believes may have been hacked due to aging voting machines. Similarly, she is pushing for a federal court order to enact a recount in Pennsylvania.
* Editor’s note: President-elect Donald Trump and the Carrier Manufacturing Corporation claim that more than 1,000 jobs will remain in Indiana thanks to a deal struck between the incoming administration and Carrier.But several news organizations, as well as the head of the union representing many Carrier workers, say the actual number of jobs saved is around 800.VOA attempted to verify how many jobs were preserved, however the public relations department at United Technologies Corp., Carrier’s parent company, is not accepting questions from the media.
