Less than two years ago, then-governor Scott Walker and reportedly-president Donald Trump were celebrating in the Oval Office. Taiwanese tech manufacturer Foxconn (of worker suicide-prevention net fame) had announced their intention to open a liquid crystal display factory in Walker’s Wisconsin, dangling the possibility of adding 13,000 new workers to the state’s job rolls.
While rational people understood that the deal was struck due to the extremely generous tax incentives Walker had offered (the $3 billion sugar sack assured the state would receive no tax revenue from the company for a quarter-century, if ever), the president saw, predictably, another reason for the Foxconn chair Terry Gou’s decision: Trump’s glorious wonderfulness.
I told Terry (Guo) to invest in the US, and he gave me a bigger investment than I expected."
"If I didn't get elected, [Gou] definitely would not be spending $10 billion," the president said.
Apparently, with sales of iPhones (Foxconn’s big product) Dropping faster than Himself’s approval ratings, Gou won’t be spending ten bil. Or possibly even ten bucks.
Foxconn’s plan for a giant Wisconsin factory now looks uncertain.
A major jobs deal President Trump has touted with former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker now looks uncertain: Foxconn, a supplier for Apple and other technology firms, says it’s scrapping plans to build a giant new factory in Wisconsin, opting to hire American engineers and researchers instead of a promised fleet of blue-collar workers.
“In Wisconsin we’re not building a factory,” Louis Woo, special assistant to Foxconn Chief Executive Terry Gou, told Reuters. “You can’t use a factory to view our Wisconsin investment.”
This isn’t the first time the company has crawfished on a deal to build manufacturing capability in the US.
The company grabbed headlines in 2013 when it unveiled plans to invest $30 million and generate 300 jobs at a new high-tech factory in central Pennsylvania. The state’s governor applauded the news, and economists predicted Foxconn would lead a local manufacturing revival.
But after the spotlight faded, Foxconn quietly dropped its plans in the state.
Exactly the sort of performance history a best-ever dealmaker might investigate before taking on a partner.
Oh, dear. By now, I’d hoped y’all would know that putting me on the rec list only invites Shameless Self-Promotion.