| Hey y'all, it's Austin. Last week, at his State of the Union address, President Trump talked up strides in working-class wages and employment opportunities. "This is a blue-collar boom," he declared, adding, "We are restoring our nation's manufacturing might." Companies, he said, "are coming back to the USA." That rhetoric will sound strikingly familiar to anyone who's been following the saga of Foxconn in Wisconsin. Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., is the most important manufacturing partner of Apple Inc. In June 2018, Trump touted a high profile deal with the manufacturer, where it would bring 13,000 factory jobs to the Badger State, in exchange for billions in government subsidies. Foxconn's development would be "the Eighth Wonder of the World," Trump said at the time, "restoring America's industrial might." He added: "Made in the USA. It's all happening." So far, it hasn't happened. That failure became more glaring last week as Foxconn told its employees in Shenzhen to stay home because of the coronavirus outbreak, leading to more supply chain uncertainty for Apple. It was a reminder of how concentrated Foxconn's operations still are in China. Meanwhile, few expect Foxconn ever to ever hire those thousands of employees in Wisconsin. One year ago this month, I wrote a cover story for Bloomberg Businessweek about the myriad ways the Wisconsin project had veered off track. Rather than producing "Made in the USA" electronics, Foxconn was actually shipping in many of its components from Asia and Mexico for mere final assembly in Wisconsin. Current and former workers complained of low pay, ever-changing production goals, and poor communication from higher-ups. (Foxconn said operations were evolving because of the experimental nature of its facility.) By the end of 2018, the manufacturer reported that it had missed its first-year hiring target by up to 82%, a figure that was revised to be even more egregious months later. Today, Foxconn's future in Wisconsin is just as cloudy. Executives have given mixed signals on what it's actually building. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has said he believes Foxconn is unlikely ever to create 13,000 jobs there. And just weeks ago, a non-partisan Wisconsin fiscal agency marked down the estimated subsidies the state is likely to have to pay Foxconn in exchange for hitting 2019 hiring and spending targets, to about $75 million from $212 million, suggesting officials are anticipating significantly less progress than once hoped for. The travails of Foxconn in Wisconsin cast some doubt over the imminent restoration of American "manufacturing might." They also raise serious questions about the logic of lucrative corporate subsidy deals. Tech companies especially, from Amazon.com Inc. to Tesla Inc., have been chasing large-scale government handouts. So far, there's little evidence these investments show a worthwhile return. And legislators are noticing. Bloomberg reported last month that bipartisan groups of lawmakers in as many as a dozen states are now considering legislation that could halt tax-incentive deals from ballooning higher. So while Foxconn could end up delivering on its promise of a high-tech factory hub in Wisconsin one day, don't expect it to turn into a boom any time soon, despite Trump's predictions. Thus far, if anything, it's turned out to be a blue-collar bust. —Austin Carr | 
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