SOME U.S. companies are reviewing potential mergers while others are rethinking job cuts or looking at their manufacturing operations in China for fear of being cast as “anti-American” by President-elect Donald Trump, according to Wall Street bankers, company executives and crisis management consultants.

    Having seen some of America’s largest companies, including General Motors Co., Lockheed Martin Corp. and United Technologies Corp., bluntly and publicly rebuked by Trump on Twitter, many others are worried they may be his next target — especially if they have significant overseas manufacturing, have had U.S. job cuts or price increases for consumers.

    “Any business that leaves our country for another country, fires its employees, builds a new factory or plant in the other country, and then thinks it will sell its product back into the United States without retribution or consequence is WRONG!” Trump, who assumes office Jan. 20, tweeted in December.

    Trump campaigned on an “America First” anti-globalization platform that promised the return of thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs to economically depressed areas.

    That nationalist rhetoric and Trump’s willingness to use his Twitter account as a cudgel has so rattled some companies that they are putting on hold mergers and acquisitions that may involve significant job cuts or moving production or tax domicile abroad, out of fear that such deals could be seen as “unpatriotic,” several top Wall Street bankers said.

    Bermuda-based White Mountains Insurance Group Ltd. had been in talks to sell itself in a transaction that would have been structured as an inversion — where a U.S.-based buyer would move its tax domicile overseas.

    However, the deal fell apart after the November election partly because potential buyers worried that leaving the U.S. tax home would be seen as “anti-American,” three people with knowledge of the matter said. Potential buyers also found the target less attractive because of the likelihood of lower U.S. corporate taxes under the Trump administration, the sources said.

    At least two other insurance deals have also fallen apart since the election for similar reasons, said the source.

    Trump’s aggressive anti-China rhetoric has also given some companies pause.

    James Park, chief executive of wearable fitness device maker Fitbit Inc., said he expects all companies that have significant manufacturing operations in China, including his own firm, to prepare contingency plans.

    Trump has threatened to hit China and Mexico with high tariffs and named vocal China critic Peter Navarro to lead a new White House office overseeing U.S. trade policy.

    “Whether it’s taking higher costs into account or operationally preparing for moving manufacturing [out of China], companies are thinking about what to do,” Park said.

    Companies are also beefing up their Twitter monitoring for any Trump tweets that could affect them and engaging public relations firms for advice on potential lines of attack and how to respond if they were to come, several U.S. chief executives as well as half a dozen corporate advisers said.

    “Back in December, the board was already asking questions: ‘What’s the plan in terms of what happens if he comes after us, are we ready? The board is asking us if we have a PR firm at the ready, if we have a person monitoring his Twitter,” said a top executive at a large U.S. defense contractor.

    “Our plan is to not get into a fight, and concede immediately. The reality is that we’re trying to stay below the radar,” the executive said.

    Since his election in November, Trump has ramped up criticism of companies from Ford Motor, Toyota Motor and General Motor, to United Tech and Rexnord Corp. over manufacturing in Mexico for U.S. consumers or moving U.S. jobs abroad.

    Trump also slammed Lockheed Martin and Boeing Co. for what he called “out of control” costs on their weapons programs.

    Both Lockheed and Boeing have said they will work to drive down costs of the programs, while Ford scrapped plans to build a US$1.6 billion plant in Mexico, and United Tech’s Carrier unit is keeping half of the 2,100 U.S. jobs it was to shift to Mexico. (SD-Agencies)