Roger Fingas
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers is calling for the state to renegotiate its deal with Foxconn, arguing that the Taiwan-based manufacturer has broken its end of the agreement and won't be able to create the 13,000 jobs it once promised.
"Clearly the deal that was struck is no longer in play and so we will be working with individuals at Foxconn and of course with [the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.] to figure out how a new set of parameters should be negotiated," Evers told news outlets including the Journal Sentinel.
The current arrangement offers Foxconn up to $4 billion in state and local handouts in exchange for a factory in Mount Pleasant, as well as a variety of satellite offices. Evers noted that the company is "downsizing the footprint of what they're doing," making it "difficult to imagine" the firm hitting 13,000 jobs.
"I think we're at a point now where we're relatively confident that the original footprint of that project is going to be much smaller but it seems to be a footprint that everybody agrees is likely," the governor added.
Foxconn's Wisconsin project was started under Republican Gov. Scott Walker with the support of President Donald Trump. Evers, a Democrat, won an election in November partly under the promise that he would hold Foxconn accountable for its lack of progress. Meaningful construction has yet to start at the factory and multiple satellite offices are still unoccupied.
Walker effectively sabotaged Evers' power in the matter before leaving office. He signed a bill moving Foxconn's liaison out of the governor's office into the WEDC, while simultaneously making it impossible for Evers to choose a new WEDC CEO until this September.
The factory was originally announced as an LCD production plant, with brief speculation that Apple could become a client. At one point Foxconn admitted it couldn't build LCDs in Wisconsin and stay competitive, and since then promises have shifted to include "AI 8K+5G" research.
Foxconn's development progress has been so slow that the company has yet to meet targets necessary for job creation or investment subsidies. Racine County and Mount Pleasant, however, have already borrowed some $350 million towards buying land and building infrastructure.
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71 Comments
We voted the right person into office this time around.
Scott Walker screwed the citizens of Wisconsin when pushing this deal, knowing it would be no where near the promised levels of job creation. He further crapped on the citizenry by hamstringing the incoming administration. Petty ass politician didn't give a crap about the people he was supposed to represent. But at least he owned the Dems, so it wasn't a total loss. /s
Reminds me of the Amazon boondoggle in New York that was going to cost taxpayers $48,000 per job in subsidies. Some think it is up to the taxpayers to pay for a corporation's costs. I am on the left side of that fence.
You could say they got outFOXed and CONNed.
Manufacturing is NOT coming back to America, at least not the kind that produces lots of good paying jobs. Why can’t we get this through our thick skulls? We fall for the dog and pony show every time some company waves the “JOBS” flag in our faces.