Donald Trump promised an “economic development message” on Wednesday morning, and his brief remarks a few hours later could lead to more jobs in the Kansas City area.
Trump announced on TV that Sprint, which is based in Overland Park, Kansas, will bring 5,000 jobs from overseas back to the United States.
“We just had some very good news, because of what is happening and the spirit and the hope. I was just called by the head people at Sprint and they are going to be bringing 5,000 jobs back to the United States, they have taken them from other countries,” Trump said. “They are bringing them back to the United States.”
There was no immediate word if the jobs will come to the Kansas City area or elsewhere.
Trump also announced that OneWeb, a start-up communications company with $1 billion in investment from Japanese bank SoftBank, will add 3,000 jobs. SoftBank also owns 80 percent of Sprint.
The president-elect said the Sprint deal “was done through” SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, a Japanese billionaire and technology investor. SoftBank agreed to invest $50 billion and create 50,000 jobs in the U.S. earlier in December.
In a news release, Sprint promised “a commitment to create or bring back to America 5,000 jobs.”
“The company anticipates these jobs will support a variety of functions across the organization including its Customer Care and Sales teams,” the release said.
The struggling wireless company hinted that it might contract the work out to other companies, saying it was beginning talk with “partners, states and cities to determine the right locations in the U.S. to create these jobs.” Sprint said it aimed to create the new positions by the end of its next fiscal year.
“We are excited to work with President-elect Trump and his administration to do our part to drive economic growth and create jobs in the U.S.,” said Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure.
The Sprint boss did not make clear whether the shift to U.S. employment was the result of talks with Trump or action it expected from the next presidential administration.
Scott Canon of the Kansas City Star contributed from Kansas City.
Alex Daugherty: 202-383-6049, @alextdaugherty
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