In his first term as president, Trump backed then-Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s effort to bring Taiwanese manufacturing company Foxconn to the Badger State, with the Republican Walker offering the company $3 billion in subsidies in exchange for the promise of 10,000 new jobs and a $10 billion investment in the state.
But the bill didn’t deliver the promised jobs, with government subsidies ballooning to over $4.5 billion, Foxconn reducing the size of the planned factory by half, and robots doing most of the work. Walker ultimately was voted out of office because of the deal, which his Democratic successor, Tony Evers, was forced to rework. Today, the factory that was actually built only employs 1,000 people, and Wisconsin now has its hopes in the CHIPS Act’s funding for something new.
Biden’s completed Arizona deal likely means that he can leave office with the CHIPS Act as one of his signature achievements, a small silver lining in the face of Trump’s election victory. He can also point to the fact that, should everything in the contract unfold as it should, that he succeeded where Trump and Republicans previously failed.
