Trump 'concerned' by United Tech. Corp.-Raytheon merger

By Umar Farooq

WASHINGTON (AA) - U.S. President Donald Trump expressed concern Monday about a merger between United Technologies Corporation and Raytheon, saying it will harm competition and make it more difficult for the government to negotiate contracts with those companies.

Trump said airline companies have "all merged in so it’s hard to negotiate" with them.

United Technologies announced Sunday it struck a deal with Raytheon to merge, combining a booming aerospace business with a highly valued defense operation. The merger would create a business that sells Tomahawk missiles right alongside passenger airline seats.

The companies together have a market value of nearly $166 billion and would potentially bring in $74 billion dollars in sales, according to CNBC.

"When I hear United and I hear Raytheon, when I hear they’re merging, does that make it less competitive? It’s already not competitive," Trump said.

"I just want to see competition. They’re two great companies, I love them both. But I want to see that we don’t hurt our competition," he added.

The new company, which is planned to be named Raytheon Technologies, would become the second largest defense and aerospace company in the world in terms of revenue, placing it behind Boeing.