Donald Trump was in Wisconsin on Thursday to hail the groundbreaking for a new Foxconn electronic screen factory. Because that factory is part of a deal that’s still in the lavish promises stage and won't reach the big disappointment stage for a while now, Trump had lots of praise for Foxconn and for the Wisconsin Republicans who lured the company to the state with $3 billion in tax incentives.
The president described the plans for the $10 billion high-tech campus being built by Foxconn, an electronics supplier for Apple and other tech giants, as the “eighth wonder of the world” and an illustration of his effort to create jobs by renewing manufacturing, attracting foreign investment and adapting a tougher trade policy.
The Foxconn facility, which company officials say could eventually employ as many as 13,000 workers, “is only one part of the exciting story that is playing out across our nation,” Mr. Trump said.
Eighth wonder of the world! Thanks to the massive tax incentives Wisconsin coughed up, the state won’t make money off the deal for 25 years—and that’s if Foxconn ends up hiring 13,000 workers. That’s the largest number of workers it’s suggested might someday be possible, which is to say … it’s unlikely.
But at the same time, Trump had more angry words for Harley-Davidson, an iconic Wisconsin company that’s moving some production overseas in response to tariffs it faces in the European Union after the EU retaliated against Trump’s tariffs. While talking up Foxconn, Trump warned Harley-Davidson: “Don’t get cute.” As if anything about production being moved overseas is cute.