Foxconn

What is Foxconn? Foxconn is a Taiwanese tech company that is best known for manufacturing Apple iPhones, Amazon Kindles, and Echo Dots at massive factories in China.

Last year the company Foxconn, along with Governor Scott Walker (R-WI), Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI), and President Trump (R) announced plans for the company to build a new factory in Wisconsin, Racine County is where the complex is to be built.

On Thursday President Trump attended the groundbreaking ceremony where the plant will be built in Wisconsin

Today, we broke ground on a plant that will provide jobs for up to 15,000 Wisconsin Workers! As Foxconn has discovered, there is no better place to build, hire and grow than right here in the United States! pic.twitter.com/tOFFodZYvK

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2018

Foxconn has promised to invest $10 billion in a facility that boosts it’s ability to employee anywhere from 3,000 people, phase one, or 13,000 by it’s expected completion date of sometime in 2020.

What did Foxconn get in return for this promised invested?

Market Watch calls it the “biggest incentives ever for a foreign country” the article also explains that Foxconn along with its tax credits, will also benefit from sales-tax exemptions.

CNN Tech explains the tax incentives, which are as follows

State: $3 Billion in tax credit and breaks. Wisconsin estimates it will take until at least 2043 for the state to recoup that lost tax revenue.

The Village of Mount Pleasant and Racine County: have agreed to provide $764 million in tax incentives, which also includes buying the land which the plant will be built and giving it to Foxconn for free.

State and Local Governments: Plan to spend $400 million on road improvements which include adding two lanes to interstate 94. The local electric utility is upgrading its lines to supply the plant it’s power at a cost of $140 million, the cost of which is to be paid by 5 million customers in the area.

The Federal Government: has committed to spend $160 million to help pay for the expansion of interstate 94.

The employees of this new factor are expected to come from nearby Chicago, as Wisconsin currently sits at 2.8% unemployment rate.

For what it is worth

In March of 2017, The Washington Post reported that Foxconn in 2013 had promised to invest $30 million into building a factory in Harrisburg, PA, and create 500 new jobs. That factory never happened.

Why this should matter

This is the government picking winners and losers. With a President that runs around bashing Free Trade, toting Fair Trade, these deals show a huge hypocrisy in his statement. In which one company picked by the government receives benefits from not only the state, but the federal tax payer.