The unravelling of a promised huge factory investment in Wisconsin touted by US President Donald Trump as proof that he could revive America’s Rust Belt has set off a political storm and landed the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer in hot water.
On Wednesday a senior Foxconn executive said in an interview that the company would not create a plant manufacturing liquid-crystal display (LCD) panels in Wisconsin, sparking a public backlash in the US. Yesterday the Taiwan-headquartered group confirmed that the “global market environment” had forced it to scale back its plans for the state.
In July 2017, Foxconn promised to invest $10bn and hire 13,000 people for a Wisconsin plant. When Foxconn founder and chief executive Terry Gou announced the project at the White House with Mr Trump, the US president boasted: “If I didn’t get elected, he definitely would not be spending $10bn.”