Trump claimed credit for Foxconn’s planned investment in manufacturing in the United States, repeatedly pointing to Foxconn’s promise as evidence that his economic agenda was working. But now, Foxconn is looking at moving its manufacturing to China instead.
THEN:
Trump praised Foxconn as evidence that his economic agenda was working, and that factories and jobs were pouring back into the country.
Trump: “Foxconn is moving into the country for the first time. Apple is going to be building massive plants. And there’s a big reason for that, and the reason happens to be Trump.”
Trump: “Everybody wanted Foxconn. Frankly, they weren’t going to come to this country. I hate to say it, if I didn’t get elected, they wouldn’t be in this country. They would not have done this in this country.”
ABC News: “‘Today we’re seeing the results of the pro-American agenda,’ Trump said, adding it was the embodiment of his ‘Make America Great Again,’ campaign slogan, what he called ‘the greatest campaign slogan in politics.’”
Trump took credit for Foxconn investing $30 billion in Wisconsin, and claimed they would create 14,000 to 15,000 new manufacturing jobs.
CNBC: “President Trump said Tuesday that he was told ‘off the record’ by Foxconn chairman Terry Gou that the company plans to spend $30 billion on a new U.S. plant — which would be three times the amount of money the company has previously pledged.”
Trump: “And Foxconn came up. They’re an incredible company. They’re building an incredible plant, and you’ll see, I guess it’s 14, 15,000 jobs, and I was very involved. I actually recommended Wisconsin.”
NOW:
Foxconn is rethinking its $10 billion investment in Wisconsin manufacturing, and plans to manufacture its LCD panels in China.
Reuters: “Foxconn is reconsidering plans to make advanced liquid crystal display panels at a $10 billion Wisconsin campus, and said it intends to hire mostly engineers and researchers rather than the manufacturing workforce the project originally promised.”
Reuters: “Rather than manufacturing LCD panels in the United States, Woo said it would be more profitable to make them in greater China and Japan, ship them to Mexico for final assembly, and import the finished product to the United States.”
Foxconn expects to hire only 1,000 workers in Wisconsin by the end of 2020.
Reuters: “Earlier this month, Foxconn, a major supplier to Apple, reiterated its intention to create 13,000 jobs in Wisconsin, but said it had slowed its pace of hiring. The company initially said it expected to employ about 5,200 people by the end of 2020; a company source said that figure now looks likely to be closer to 1,000 workers.”